


Same Old Thing

by Raewyll



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: F/M, canon-divergence, rivamika
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-06-22 08:52:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 29,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15578214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raewyll/pseuds/Raewyll
Summary: With the Captain dragged away in chains, Mikasa once again finds herself facing the greatest threat inside of the Walls: human nature.





	1. Wake-up Call

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings might change later on. Feel free to share your thoughts as the story progresses! Any form of feedback is appreciated!

“Something’s not right…”

Mikasa could hear a quiet crackle under her feet as she slightly shifted her position. The roof was old, the tiles weather-beaten and she could feel them slowly giving way under her weight.

There was a chill in the air; the night had been unusually cool and the sun had just barely risen over the horizon. Her grip tightened as her fingers ghosted over the trigger. She needed to be ready.

She had to admit, the terrain wasn’t especially hard to navigate with the 3DMG but it was still far from ideal: the courtyard below her was square-shaped, with walls of a generic two-story government building surrounding it. On the ground floor, a narrow patio bordered all sides of the courtyard with old, cracked pillars forming an archway all around.

It was all right below of her; a patrol of two guards had just finished making their rounds. As soon as they had disappeared into the shadow under the archways, everything fell silent.

Her dark cloak fluttered as a quiet breeze swept across the city. Clouds danced across the sky, filtering the light and painting the marred stone walls in a greyish hue.

She was thankful for the fresh morning air. With a heavy cloak, her gear and the package weighing her down, she felt relieved each time the soft wind brushed against her face.

However, that was all the comfort she was willing to pay an occasional thought to.

She needed to concentrate. She only had one chance.

And thus, she waited, perched atop the roof with Squad Leader Hange’s words echoing in her mind.

_She rubbed her cheeks with the back of her hand to massage the dizziness of sleep away. The officer walking in front of her gave her very little time to make herself presentable. She followed him, as ordered, across the dark and abandoned corridors of the base._

_“Sorry for the disturbance,” a familiar voice apologized as they entered a secluded room in the dimly lit basement._

_“Squad Leader,” Mikasa saluted, “what’s going on?”_

_“At ease, and let’s keep it quiet, shall we?” While Hange tried her best to maintain a calm façade, it was easy to tell that the unexpected midnight rendezvous hadn’t been happening on a whim. “Everything that I will be saying from this point on shall remain secret. Do you understand, Mikasa?”_

_She nodded. Such secrecy… Did something happen concerning Eren? Her stomach tightened at the thought._

_“Captain Levi has been arrested on account of murder,” Hange explained in a hushed tone. Mikasa’s eyes widened. “Everything’s a mess. All we know that if we do nothing, he might not live to see the next sunset.”_

_There was a pause. A thousand questions swirled in Mikasa’s head, but she chose to remain silent._

_“Our hands are tied,” Hange sighed, her expression growing even more alarming. “The Scouts can’t do anything for him right now.”_

_That was more than enough information for Mikasa to form an educated guess on what was going to happen next…_

_“All we can do now is strike first and ask questions later. However,” Hange hesitated, “if we want to get to the bottom if this, Erwin and the Scouts must avoid getting personally involved at all costs. Do you understand me?”_

_“I do, Squad Leader.” Mikasa’s gaze darkened. Now she understood why her presence had been requested in such a short notice. “How many people?”_

_“Just one,” came the reply. “You.”_

_It took her by surprise. She had imagined a small, elite squad rushing in and saving the Captain to escort him into hiding in utmost secrecy while the officials investigated under legal boundaries. “But then,” Mikasa murmured, her breath hitching, “what about Eren?”_

_Hange seemed displeased. “We can’t afford getting him involved in this! You must know that…”_

_“Of course” Mikasa added in a hurry. “I mean… what will happen to him while I’m gone? If I’m not here…” She felt her pulse quickening. Until now, she had always felt that the Captain was untouchable, maybe even more so than the Commander. Humanity’s strongest… The man admired by people both inside and outside Wall Sina. What if his capture was only meant to weaken them? What if this had all been part of a larger plan? What if someone was trying to get their hands on Eren?_

_“Ackerman!” Hange’s voice was now stern, but in the torchlight, Mikasa could suddenly see the glimmer of panic in her eyes._

_“Eren has nothing to with this. This must be your decision…” The Squad Leader reached out, her fingers grabbing the girl by the shoulders. “Levi’s life is on the line here and you must make this decision quickly and by yourself.”_

_It wasn’t an order. It was a plea._

_“There is no one else I can trust with this” Hange admitted with a sigh. “You are our only choice, Mikasa. Erwin asked me to tell you this…”_

A door creaked loudly in the distance, dragging Mikasa back to the present. It must’ve been a heavy door with old, rusty iron hinges. Something that might as well had served as the entrance to the dungeons…

But where were the guards? Why was the courtyard still empty?

Soon, three figures appeared on the periphery of her vision, stepping out from under the southern wall and heading straight towards the north without pause, without ceremony. Something was not right…

The two guards, bearing the insignia of the Military Police, were only armed with a rifle and lacked all other equipment and visible defensive measures. Between them walked the Captain with hands tied behind his back; his eyes darting across the courtyard, searching and analysing his surroundings with a predatory glare.

Mikasa took position on the eastern side of the building, hoping that once the sun rose, its light would give her some tactical advantage if - or when - needed. However, the guards didn’t seem much interested surveillance; their gaze remained trained on the pathway in front of them. What on earth was going on?

She tried to focus on the scene playing out in front of her. Squad Leader Hange said that the Captain’s life was in danger, but apparently, the Military Police didn’t get the same memo. Why would they leave their charge out in the open like that? It seemed like either an arrogant or a simply foolish thing to do.

And then, like a flash, it hit her. She quickly turned her gaze towards the south.

There it was.

She could see the small glimmer of light reflected from metal as the clouds parted slightly above them.

There was no time to strategize.

She needed to get the angle right; the turn had to be as sharp as she could manage. She broke from her cover and sprinted forwards, no longer bothered by the cacophony of ceramic tiles cracking and breaking under her weighted steps.

She fired one hook straightforward towards the western wall, letting the momentum carry her towards the centre of the courtyard. With a lightning fast switch, she unclasped the first hook and fired the second towards the north, unfazed by the sudden jerk of her body towards the left.

3…2…1...

She felt the collision choking the air out of her lungs as she crashed into her target, but she couldn’t allow herself to pause. Pressing further down on the triggers increasing the pressure to compensate for the added weight, she swung further to left - back towards the east – aiming for a gap between two columns. Just as she felt her legs brushing against the stone, she heard a sound similar to a small explosion – a rifle being fired – not too far behind.

The second crash was also inevitable, but she felt she was better prepared this time. Besides, the body in front of her took the brunt of the impact. Her course wasn’t exactly the most graceful one, but she couldn’t exactly afford putting on a show for the Military Police and whoever else might’ve been watching.

She had no time to apologize. Reaching behind her bag, she pulled a pin on a small metal canister before flinging it back towards the guards and burying the courtyard in a thick white smoke.

Unbuckling the sizeable package from her back, she emptied its content to the walkway while making sure to not strain too far from cover as she risked a quick glance behind.

“That was quite an entrance, Ackerman…” The Captain grumbled.

Instead of a reply, she quickly unholstered a dagger from her belt and with a swift cut, freed him from his temporary restraints. “Gear up, Captain” she ordered. She didn’t need to tell him twice.

She was surprised by how fast he had managed to get his equipment working. The only thing lacking were the blades, as they had not been supplied for the mission. According to Hange, there would be no incentive to use them if they weren’t even there in the first place…

“Where to?” the Captain asked, pushing the trigger a few times in empty just to check whether his equipment was working properly.

“I was told to follow you” Mikasa replied quietly.

He raised an eyebrow questioningly, but it didn’t take him long to get back in the game. “Where is the gunman?”

“Southern wall,” she explained. “Only one person, but they’ve surely managed to reload by now.”

“If they’re smart, they’ve already left. But still…” He seemed to be considering the situation for a moment longer. “We’re escaping through the south. You take the right, I take the left.”

“Understood.” It’s not that she had no arguments against his plan, but rather, she knew they didn’t have time to disagree. In this mission, in this situation, the line of command was clear.

They were going to make a break for it. The smoke was slowly clearing, but the guards were yet to receive any backup. Nothing seemed to happening in the way that it was supposed to… What the hell did the Captain get himself into?

Just when he jumped out of cover, Mikasa was ready to follow right behind. She found their escape all too easy… They grappled and landed on the southern wall without obstructions. With her feet steady on the roof, she was ready to risk a glance behind, but the Captain was faster.

“We need to go. Follow me!” he ordered.

With a sharp breath, Mikasa decided to swallow all the questions that plagued her mind.

Whatever was happening, she was already neck-deep in it…


	2. Going Under

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very thankful to everyone who decided to stick with this story after chapter 1, especially to the people who were willing to give their trust in advance in the form of kudos! I hope you will find the rest even more to your liking!

The city below was no longer quiet.

It didn’t take long for the patrols outside to notice their escape. The quiet indifference that seemed to surround the Captain’s trial was now all but gone; she could hear soldiers marching and officials barking orders in the distance, with the commotion finally drawing the early-risers and the curious out to the streets.

The number of their pursuers seemed to grow with every turn.

“How far,” Mikasa asked, evading an upcoming bell tower from the right, while the Captain swung around to the left.

“Further ahead,” came the cryptic answer.

“Two more pursuers on the left” she exclaimed.

“Three more on the right…” Levi replied.

That made the number of MPs on their tail to 9 in total. They could’ve easily outmanoeuvred them, but the Captain decided to opt for the easiest pathway for some reason, which led them straight towards the south.

Glancing behind one more time, Mikasa concluded that their opponents were truly relentless in their pursuit this time. They seemed perfectly organized, with three soldiers chasing them from behind and six more slowly trying to catch up on their flank from each side.

“Mikasa” Levi suddenly called. “There’s no need to preserve gas. Keep them on a long leash!”

“What?” The order sounded foolish. “We still need gas to get through Ehrmich after climbing the Wall!” What was the Captain thinking? They had been heading south all this time, meaning that he was most likely planning to make his escape somewhere in the southern district. However, with no tall buildings to use as scaffolding, they would need to burn a significant amount of their reserves just to make it to the other side, which would still leave them relatively vulnerable with the Stationary Guard too joining chase sooner or later.

“Just follow my orders” Levi barked. “Increase your speed and keep your eyes on the way ahead!”

Mikasa’s eyes narrowed, but once again, she did what she had been told.

She saw Wall Sheena growing larger as they approached the gates at a recklessly high speed.

“Face about and descend! Now!”

Just as the Captain yelled his orders, Mikasa’s nerves fired up. At such high velocity, making a sharp turn like that would’ve normally been impossible for any other recruit, except the two fugitives currently on the run.

She could feel her body protesting against the forces tearing at her as her muscles stretched and her form contorted, gas hissing and wires whirring. She suddenly found herself on the rear, right behind her pursuers. However, even with the abrupt stop, her momentum was still too much to facilitate a safe landing, so following the Captain, she started zig-zagging towards the ground.

She winced as her feet eventually crashed against the pavement in an abandoned back alley.

“This way!” Levi shouted.

She followed without pause, adrenaline still rushing through her bloodstream, keeping her body edge and her mind sharp.

“Discard your gear!”

She was too caught up in the moment to argue. She unclasped the belt keeping the gas tanks in place first, letting them fall with a loud, metallic clink.

“Hurry up!” the Captain instructed and she haphazardly removed the rest of her equipment.

She had no idea where they were right now - or more importantly, where they were headed, but Levi seemed to be navigating the narrow alleyways with surprising ease. After two lefts and finally a right, they found themselves nearing a small square surrounded by a few ran-down houses. The insignia of the Military Police revealed that the building right in front of them was in fact a guardhouse and she could already hear chatter coming from behind the walls.

“Captain” she tried to argue, but he wouldn’t stop.

“We will have to make a break for it,” he explained, ignoring her previous query. “Remember, Mikasa: no fatal wounds, just incapacitation! Don’t let anyone distract you!”

He only allowed her enough time to nod – once again – in acknowledgment before heading straight for whatever he was hoping to find behind the last corner.

She followed close behind. She immediately spotted two guards camped in front of something that seemed like a stairway inside an abandoned house. They didn’t seem to be paying much attention; she could smell the smoke from their cigarettes as they tried to outshout each other over the punchline of a joke that she found neither funny nor creative.

Naturally, their demeanour quickly changed as they spotted the two intruders heading their way. “Halt” one of the screamed while both reached towards the standard military issue rifles resting against the empty doorframe.

It was too late.

With a well-aimed kick, Mikasa sent the first guard flying back into the wall. His comrade dropped to the ground just a moment later, disarmed and knocked out by the Captain.

“Quickly,” he ordered, motioning towards the dimly lit stairway.

“Captain,” she protested, “is that…?”

“Later” he yelled as the door to the guardhouse suddenly burst open. “Hurry up and don’t stop until I tell you to!”

Mikasa’s expression hardened. Regardless of the circumstances, that command was at least easy to follow.

She took the steps by twos, passing every turn without slowing down. She could hear their footsteps echoing from the walls. The element of surprise was on their side no longer, judging from the commotion ahead - whoever had been waiting down below was now well aware of their presence.

Beyond the next turn, she could already see the shadows changing. There was little room to make use of, but it wasn’t going to stand in her way. She tore the cloak from her neck and hauled it forward.

A flash of explosion, followed by the sound of gunshots: two at once, and two more just half a second later.

Keeping up with the Captain, she leaned into the curve of the last turn without hesitation.

Two guards awaited them kneeling, rifles still smoking. Behind them, two others stood with a horrified expression, their fingers still trembling above the trigger. Fortunately, they must’ve panicked and fired accidentally in unison.

Breaching their defences was child’s play at this point.

Finally, they were at the end of the tunnel, yet she only saw darkness lingering outside.

“Keep moving” she heard the Captain speaking, but she found herself unable to tear her gaze away. Her eyes grew wide as the flickering light of a myriad torches filled her vision.

“Just…” she whispered, “just what the hell is this place, Captain?”


	3. Down Below

A world shrouded in shadows…

Just like all the other cadets, Mikasa had the existence of the “ _underground_ ” explained to her by stern-faced instructors, whose stories had always been rather sombre and devoid of all emotion. After the lessons, however, they had all dreamed for days about the city deep below - a place of constant darkness where no sunlight would reach.

Yet even so, the sight that now greeted her was far beyond anything she could’ve imagined.

At first glance, it all seemed like a city locked inside one of those expensive glass orbs sold across the market in Shiganshina; the ones that you could take in your hands and shake to make colourful dust swim around inside, making it all look like something from a children’s tale.

Here, she could see an endless sea of neat little houses packed atop each other narrow cobblestone streets woven between in an intricate pattern. And the people, they appeared to be nothing more than tiny carved figurines set atop a carefully crafted board.

However, the longer she watched, the more she could see the magic fading…

“Mikasa!”

A familiar voice called, rousing her from her daze.

The Captain was growing impatient, with one foot already placed on the top of the stairway leading down below. “We need to go.”

Once again, she glanced towards the city of a thousand torches, but this time, she only saw darkness waiting to swallow them both.

* * *

Levi quickened his steps. They were safe for the moment, but he knew all too well that it couldn’t last - not even up there, and especially not down _here_.

He glanced behind to see the girl following close at his heel. He couldn’t even begin to imagine the thoughts filling her mind. Even after all these years, he found that this world felt all too uncomfortably familiar to him.

Could she have felt the same as he did when he glanced at the world above for the first time? He honestly doubted it…

He still couldn’t decide how he felt about her presence. When he had first spotted her out there in the courtyard, he thought he felt relieved. He had seen her in action; he knew that with her around, his escape would be guaranteed. But there was something else, something that made him feel uneasy about the whole situation.

Of all people, why would Erwin send her?

It wasn’t fair, no matter how he looked at it. But then again, fairness had little to do with the workings of their world.

He levelled his gaze on the path ahead. There was no use contemplating the situation at this point. As soon as he had set foot in that tunnel, his priorities automatically changed to accommodate one goal - and one goal only: survival.

Navigating the narrow streets caused him no trouble. He tried to keep away from crowded areas as much as possible, but he was well aware that his efforts were mostly just for show. He had already seen too many heads turn as they walked into the city. Any other time, he might’ve gotten away with a flashy entrance, but it wasn’t going to happen with _her_ by his side…

“Captain,” Mikasa whispered, “where are we headed?”

“Drop it,” Levi sighed. “No use for ranks and titles down here.” Fortunately, there was no one else in the alley. He stopped for a moment, looking for something the he knew should’ve been there.

“Is this what people call partners in crime, then?”

He knew that it was supposed to be more of a retort than an effort at banter, but he could already feel his lips curling upward into a faint smile. Or was it a smirk? She could really be a smartass at times.

“Maybe” he answered, eyes still glued to the wall. And finally, there it was.

He reached forward, pushing at spots where time had eaten the paint and the mortar away, feeling for a stone that would come loose at his touch.

Once the first one was out, the others followed much more easily.

“Here” he groaned, dragging an unmarked trunk from the hole that he had just uncovered. With no locks stopping him, he opened it to reveal a meagre set of emergency supplies in the form of some dried food, relatively clean bandages and a few oversized cloaks. After brief inspection, he handed one of them to Mikasa while quickly he quickly covered himself with another.

“News travel fast, especially around these parts” he explained with a frown. “I don’t think we can stay hidden for long, to be honest.”

“So what’s your plan?” Mikasa asked from under the cover of her hood.

“We need to build some advantage, start planning our steps. We can do that much at least…”

“Why did we come here?” she continued, her eyes cautiously scouring their surroundings.

“For many reasons, with the most important being: one – to even the playing field; and two – because it’s no man’s land.”

He was busy pocketing the rest of the supplies to study her expression, but he expected her to be heavily frowning by now.

“Mikasa,” he sighed, finally straightening his posture, “I fully disagree with Erwin’s choice to send you here, mostly because now there’s no way I can send you back.” He could see her eyes narrowing. He was all too familiar with that expression. “In this place, there are no rules except the ones you make for yourself. Do you understand?”

Most of her face was hidden by the shadow of the cloak, which also served well to help keep her deeper thoughts hidden. Levi could only guess what was going on in her mind.

“I do.” She paused for a moment. “People want you dead. That hasn’t changed much in the last hour, has it?”

“No,” he admitted. “No one will hold you responsible for what happens here. I hope we’re clear on that…”

After a little bit of hesitation, she nodded. She opened her mouth to speak, but eventually decided against it.

“Say it.”

“I have accepted that responsibility when I accepted the mission, Captain… Levi.”

This time, it was he who found the word caught in his throat. Unsure of what to say, he simply nodded. “This is our board now. Let’s make good use of it.”

* * *

Mikasa felt as if she had been walking in a dream – or rather, a long lost memory. The last time she had felt so much hopelessness and desperation squeezed into such a small space was during the first months after the fall of Wall Maria.

“Does this place have an actual name?” she mused quietly.

“Most both _above_ and _below_ simply refer to it as The Undeground” Levi answered. “Some people say that it used to have a name of its own, but that was a long time ago.”

“How many people live here?”

“Too many…”

Maybe it was better if she didn’t know; just the mere thought filled her with uneasiness.

From up close, she could feel her view of the city shifting from something like a peculiar dream into something more akin to a nightmare. It felt as if people could tell that they didn’t belong just by looking at them. Someone had already started following them; probably just a pickpocket hoping to score high early in the morning.

Mikasa followed as Levi led her through the twists and turns of the city. They kept close to each other, but there was still enough distance for them to act independently if the need ever rose. This, however, had also barred her from asking any further questions, so she was still no wiser about their goal or their destination.

“How long?” she asked, finally running out of patience.

“Just a bit longer” Levi replied, his tone surprisingly calm, before sinking back into silence. A few long seconds passed before he spoke again. “You won’t like it at all, but please bear with it for now.”

What? She asked one question and instead of an answer, she had received a dozen more mysteries in return.

The area they were currently passing through was vastly different from the outskirts of the town. The streets were much wider here, filled with the noise of laughter and idle chatter and merchants calling out from behind their stalls. Instead of the simple brown and grey robes, she could see people sporting all hues and colours even with hints of cheap jewellery glittering here and there. Suddenly, she spotted a woman waving at them with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes before quickly hiding her face behind a fan.

She could feel another piece of the puzzle finally falling into place.

“Here we are.” Levi nodded towards a large door to the right, with two burly guards posted outside. They only spared them a quick glance before turning their attention back towards the street. Apparently, the establishment wasn’t “invitation-only”. The standards couldn’t have been too high if their shoddy appearance was good enough to hit the bar.

She could already hear music seeping through the walls, luring curious passers-by to take a quick glance inside.

The Captain opened the door letting himself in first, and Mikasa could only imagine his gaze darting across the room, surveying the place for potential sources of danger - probably finding too many to count.

She followed close behind, careful not to lose him in the crowd.

She would’ve been lying if she said she had seen anything like this before. Somehow, the misery she had experienced outside seemed to have disappeared behind these walls. But she only needed to listen for a moments longer to realize that all the laughter filling the room was empty and false…

Someone stumbled into her and she instinctively switched her posture to better fend off any incoming attacks. If the Captain had seen any of it, he didn’t bother to tell her to relax. Maybe it was a sign she needed to consider.

The place was filled with men and women alike but it wasn’t hard to distinguish customer and employee. Her eyes trailed across the room, mapping all its corners. She saw the Captain moving slightly forward and leaning over to whisper into a girl’s ear, who casually motioned towards the stairs leading upward.

This was usually the time during mission for her to be told to wait while the officers sorted the problem out – be it official or personal. However, with a quick glance and slight nod, the Captain signalled her to follow.

Maybe it would’ve been wiser to stick to the usual routine this time around, as the trip upstairs turned out to be a lot shorter than expected.

Doing as she was told, she followed the Captain into the last room in the hallway, only to be greeted by the barrel of a loaded gun.

It seemed reasonable to assume that whoever the Captain expected to see must’ve been someone else.

 


	4. Acquaintances

One… Two… Three…

Three women, each of them armed. Normally, those odds wouldn’t have given her any cause for concern, but the three small, easily concealable handguns pointed at her face made her instantly rethink her position.

“Well, that is a surprise” she heard Levi conclude in a suspiciously calm tone. “Wasn’t expecting to see you up here, _Astrid_.”

His eyes remained focused on the person standing right in front of them; a woman with a petite figure but an unmistakeably stern expression. Her appearance seemed to be built on a sharp contrast of prominent edges and unexpectedly soft features: narrow, unforgiving eyes sat above a snub little nose and full, luscious lips, only to be framed by a strong jawline; accentuated even further by a loose bun of messy ash brown hair.

“I must admit, Levi,” she replied, her voice surprisingly melodic, “I haven’t expected you to show up on my doorstep either.”

Levi’s eyes narrowed. “Where’s Efa?”

“Straight to the point, like always” Astrid sighed, but contrary to the resigning tone of her voice, her expression didn’t mirror any disappointment. “She’s dead. Has been, actually, for almost five months now.”

“Why haven’t I heard about this?”

Mikasa found the situation quite surreal. Even at gunpoint, the Captain appeared to be perfectly calm, almost as if he were already certain that no shots would be fired regardless of the outcome of the conversation.

If Astrid found his confidence surprising or his cockiness unnerving, she didn’t show.

“Nothing has changed” she stated calmly. “Our agreement still stands, as long – of course - as you manage to hold up your end of the bargain.”

“You have already received the shipment for this month,” Levi replied in a similar tone, “so spare me this bullshit crimelord act.”

Mikasa had probably never felt this obviously excluded from a conversation during her time as a soldier. Did the Captain maintain connections with the Underground for personal reasons or did he do all of it under orders and on account of the Corps? Or was it something entirely different? More importantly, would she ever have learned about any of this had he not been forced to drag her around?

“I will, as soon as you tell me what kind of trouble you will be bringing this time around.” Astrid’s tone made it quite obvious that in this case, she wasn’t willing to tolerate any nonsense.

“Someone high up enough the ranks wants me dead, but I’m not sure who and can’t say why. Heard anything?”

“Sadly, and surprisingly, nothing.” She seemed genuinely bothered by the fact that she had no information to offer. Whether it was because of the Captain or because of her own position, Mikasa couldn’t quite decide.

“Well, you know the rules, Levi,” Astrid sighed as she lowering her gun with the other women immediately following suit. “There has been a lot of traffic near the forges lately, so don’t draw too much attention to yourself. Also, I’d like to advise you to stay clear of the forgotten town.”

“Another outbreak?”

“No, not yet, but it’s better to be careful.” Reaching into her pocket, Astrid hesitated for a moment before tossing something across the room which Levi easily caught mid-air before Mikasa’s could’ve had a chance to react. However, she still recognized the metallic glimmer and the distinct shape of those old, oversized keys.

The Captain didn’t seem to have any further questions. With a nod of his head, he signalled her that it was time for them to leave.

With one foot already over the threshold, she could hear Astrid saying: “Welcome to _Hades_.”

Once outside, Levi took the lead once again, leaving Mikasa to follow him in silence. He led her towards another stairway, one that stood in a much more secluded corner of the building. After climbing the stairs and briefly checking their surroundings, he continued towards the furthest room on the left.

Without much hesitation, he slid the key into the lock and opened the door with a swift motion. The rusty old hinges creaked under the sudden impact, but at least the interior of the room appeared to be much easier on the eyes.

The Captain held the door open for her, allowing Mikasa to be the first one to step inside.

“How long are we staying?” she asked as she toured the room with interest. It wasn’t much, really, but it was spacious enough to not feel crowded with two people locked inside. There was only one bed, but she would’ve been lying if she said that it caught her by surprise. After all, she had no illusions about the nature of the establishment they were currently visiting…

The decoration was scarce but surprisingly discreet and tasteful. The bed was covered in burgundy sheets, the same colour that framed the sole window on the wall in the form of heavy brocade curtains. There was also a lacquered commode and a dressing table with a single chair that someone had forgotten to push back to its proper place. Above the desk, she saw a mirror of unusually fine quality. The only piece of furniture offering even just a bit of privacy was a folding screen just across the room. She could already tell that she would definitely make good use of it later on.

“As long as it’s safe,” Levi replied, but he must’ve noticed how his answer failed to satisfy his partner’s curiosity, as he shortly added: “Probably a few days at best. For now, this place is our best option: food, shelter and a useful network of information.”

“Old friends?” Mikasa asked.

“Acquaintances,” Levi replied curtly.

Mikasa’s eyes narrowed. “I believe a briefing is in order, _Captain_.”

“I already told you to drop that, Mikasa. Right now, we’re long past formalities.”

She could feel her fingers curling against her palm, the frustration that she had felt all morning finally turning into anger. If the Captain had noticed, he didn’t show.

“Then when are you going to finally start acting like it, _Levi_?”

“If you want to say something…” he started, but she quickly cut him off.

“I’m actually eager to listen.”

They stared at each other for a long moment before the Captain finally decided to yield and turn his gaze away. “Ask your questions, then.” Knowing that it wasn’t going to be an easy conversation, he walked up to the chair, pulled it a bit closer and after a careful inspection, finally decided to sit down.

Mirroring his movements, Mikasa lowered herself on the bed. “I’d rather hear your explanation.” After a few seconds of consideration, she eventually added: “From the start, please.”

“Have you heard of the Schulz family?” He paused for a moment, giving her time to react. Once Mikasa shook her head, he continued: “They own a fair patch of land inside wall Rose. They have always been influential, but after the fall of Wall Maria… Well, you can imagine.” He slowed down, waiting for her approval to proceed with the story. “Lord Schulz’s wife gave birth to two healthy children before passing away years ago: Marcus and Maria. Yesterday morning, Maria Schulz has been found dead – murdered, in fact. Among her belongings, the servants found an unsent letter addressed to me. According to the Military Police, the contents of the letter condemn me as her killer.”

The answer seemed obvious, yet still, Mikasa knew she needed to ask: “What was in the letter?”

“Beats me” Levi shrugged.

“But that doesn’t add up,” Mikasa protested with a thoughtful expression on her face. “This could’ve been a simple misunderstanding. How did the Commander know that someone was after you – that someone was actually trying to kill you?”

“Now you are asking the right questions” Levi sighed. “He knew, because he knew Maria Schulz better than anyone else. She was our informant – or more precisely, _his_ informant.”

If she hadn’t been certain already, now she could tell for sure: this story wasn’t going to get any simpler anytime soon…

* * *

The water was cold, but at least it gave him the much needed chance to finally get rid of the dirt and the dust - and things he didn’t even want to mention - that had been making his skin itch all day. The holding cells of the Military Police weren’t famous for being accommodating, and the dungeons – as one might’ve guessed – didn’t provide much comfort either.

A set of fresh clothes waited for him draped over the folding screen. They were nothing fancy, but at least they smelled good. He tossed his dirty shirt on the floor, making himself a promise to take care of it later. He just really needed a break…

Bloody Maria Schulz, he thought. He really had no idea what was going on. When he spotted Mikasa diving from that rooftop, he certainly hoped that she would at least be carrying a message or some sort of hint or clue from Erwin to help him solve this mystery.

“Fucking politics,” he groaned.

“Do you think they could spare another shirt?”

He found the question as sudden as surprising. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

“I think this one is missing a button.”

What the hell? He reached for a towel and wiped the water from his face. “Maybe you just messed it up” he grumbled, peering out from behind the folding screen.

Well, he was wrong.

Mikasa stood there, already wearing the spare clothes given to her by the girls. For certain, it was far from her usual style - after all, he had never seen her wear high-waisted trousers before. The way she kept fiddling with the hem of her shirt draw his gaze upward. It wasn’t hard to see what her problem was.

“Just put it aside” he instructed with a sigh. “You can go wash up now.” Leaning back behind cover, he quickly changed into the loose, long-sleeved greyish linen shirt before scooping up his old white button-up. He found that it wasn’t the best fit either with its unreasonably wide neckline, but as he had just claimed, he couldn’t really afford sounding ungrateful right now - deal or no deal; that woman wasn’t known for her patience.

Mikasa, however, made no effort to move from the bedside.

“Ackerman” he called, trying to draw her attention.

“I’m alright.”

“You have blood on your neck.”

She seemed surprised. She turned towards the mirror and tilted her head slightly, only to see that he had indeed been telling the truth. She must’ve broken a nose or two on their way in.

Hesitantly, she complied, but only after bending down towards the bed to pick her old shirt up. As she passed him, he pointed at the wine coloured dress shirt she had been given: “Give that one to me.”

She shot him a suspicious glare but nodded anyway.

In that moment, Levi decided that he really didn’t want to know what was going on inside her head right now.

* * *

The word _awkward_ wasn’t even close to describing how she was feeling right now and she refused to mentally call her situation _embarrassing_.

Her simple white shirt had small splatters of dried blood decorating it, but apparently, it was what she needed to make do with. It wasn’t that bad, actually. Or more precisely, it could’ve been worse.

She reached into the water, letting her hand cool down a little before scrubbing her neck clean.

She thought the Captain asked for her clothes to give them back, maybe to ask for a better fit, but she didn’t hear him leaving the room and he hadn’t been calling for help either. He was most certainly there, constantly fidgeting with something.

Suddenly, he stopped. She could hear him getting up, probably from the chair and walking towards the only thing separating them inside the room – the folding screen. She could hear the rustle of fabric and when she glanced up, she saw the red shirt appearing above her head.

“Give it another try” Levi advised.

She wiped her hands clean before taking it from his hand. What was the point? Still, she had learned enough about him to know that there was even less point in asking. Not bothering to waste her time unbuttoning, she slid the soft fabric over her head, surprised to feel it stick a lot more to her skin than she remembered.

She gasped unwillingly as she glanced down.

Did she really mess up the buttons on her first try? The deep, unnecessarily revealing cleavage seemed to be gone now.

Or was it really?

She ran her hand across her chest and abdomen, finally realizing the trick that had evaded her at first glance - the uppermost button felt somehow different under her touch.

It was… new.

She felt the colour rising in her cheeks.

“Hurry up” she heard the Captain calling. “We have things to do.”

She now truly and deeply regretted leaving her scarf at home. Curse Hange and her stupid advice…


	5. Ferryman

The crowd seemed to have dissipated from the streets. Mikasa suddenly realized that she had no idea how much time had passed since their arrival: Was it still morning? Or afternoon now?

“How do you keep track of time?” she asked with innocent curiosity as they passed the now empty stalls along the street.

“Do you see that tower over there?” Levi replied with a question of his own.

Following his finger, she turned her gaze towards the largest building visible on the dark horizon. She nodded.

“Every district has a belltower like that. Just count the number of tolls and you will know.” He paused for a moment, eyeing her with a thoughtful expression. “I think it would be better if you kept your face hidden for now.”

“What about you?”

He seemed to be lost in thought for a second. “If they want to find me, they will. Besides, we won’t be getting any answers hiding in a corner. But you… They know nothing about you.” After further hesitation, he added: “We might be able to use that our advantage.”

Mikasa shot him a suspicious glare but decided to take his advice anyway. Still, she had a feeling that once again, he wasn’t telling her the whole story. She didn’t like the large cowl as it greatly restrained her field of vision and for some reason, she couldn’t shake the unnerving feeling of people watching her intently as she passed by.

“Mikasa,” Levi continued after a short time. “If we ever get separated, come back here, back to Elysium. If anything happens to me, Astrid will help you get in contact with our people.”

“Can we really trust her?”

“No.”

The answer wasn’t really what surprised Mikasa, but rather, it was the bluntness of his statement.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Levi explained, “you can trust her to help and not rat us out, but once things come crashing down, she will be looking out for herself before anyone else. In fact, I’d advise to use that as a rule of thumb in every situation while we are here.”

“Peachy” Mikasa sighed. She understood the reasoning behind the Captain’s words and truth to be told, she couldn’t blame these people. “Just you and me, then.”

“Something like that.”

“Tell me about this place. I want to know how to find my way around.” With her eyes still surveying their surroundings, she finally realized how hard she found navigating these unfamiliar streets.

“You will need a little bit of practice, first” the Captain mused.

* * *

Other than losing a bit of mortar and plaster here and there, the alleyways seemed to have remained largely unchanged over the years.

“Members of the Military Police use standard issue 3DMG down here, but they prefer to keep out of trouble. As long as you don’t draw too much attention, they can’t be bothered to get off their asses” Levi explained.

“If they come after you, we will be at a disadvantage.”

Truth to be told, Mikasa had a point.

She was sitting not too far from him on a pile of broken pallets, struggling to make the last bites of her meal disappear. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to be picky regarding food, which could be considered quite a bit of luck around these parts.

“They won’t. Maybe they will reassign a few more people to their patrols for show, but unless we fuck up really hard, they won’t be giving us any trouble.”

“Then we should go and make a move on them first,” Mikasa suggested while setting the remnants of her lunch aside. “We could use their gear if nothing else.”

“Maybe,” Levi mused, “but a confrontation like that might cost us more than we are willing to sacrifice at the moment.”

“What do you suggest instead?”

“I can get gear for us if needed, but let’s just keep things quiet for now. Besides, it’s no longer the uniforms we need to be wary of…”

Mikasa’s suspicious gaze trailed towards the streets.

Reaching for a discarded skewer, Levi started drawing into the dust below their feet. It was dark, with the light of the street barely reaching them, but after spending the last few minutes cooped up in the shadows, his eyes had adjusted to the dark well enough that he could trace a few visible lines.

“If you tried to imagine the underground as a large circle, you could say that we are here now, down in the southern district.”

“And the other four?”

Well, at least she had been paying attention to his ramblings during lunch. “East of us is a place you should avoid at all costs. We have zero influence in those parts and the MP doesn’t have it any better. If you must go there, never go unarmed.”

“And the West?”

“The interior has a strong control over those parts, but – and because of that - it’s relatively safe. Still, if we ever get separated, try to get back to Astrid first before doing anything stupid.” He pointed towards the centre of the map, promptly ignoring the murderous glare coming from his left.

“What about the forgotten town?”

For a moment, he couldn’t hide his surprise. Of course, he could recall Astrid mentioning it earlier, but he wouldn’t have guessed that Mikasa might’ve remembered.

“It’s forgotten because no one goes there. We won’t be, either.”

“What’s there?”

The girl had a peculiar talent of sniffing out bothersome things to talk about. Levi huffed. “As I said, nothing. Not anymore.” He could see her eyes narrowing even this far from the light, but he wouldn’t allow himself to be coerced this time.

“You said there were five districts,” Mikasa argued.

“If you want to be precise, yes” Levi sighed. “But it doesn’t really matter, because that’s just formality. This place doesn’t work like the towns you’re used to. There are no walls here, no actual borders that separate one place from the other. I will tell you more about it later if you want me to, but right now, we need to get going.”

He believed his offer was perfectly fair and reasonable. Mikasa must’ve arrived to the same conclusion because she stopped pushing the issue any further.

“Alright.”

Leaving the safety of the abandoned cul-de-sac behind, they returned to the open street side-by-side. After a quick glance around, Levi steered them towards the left and they fell into step behind a young man dragging a cart towards the western part of the town.

“Do you see that large chunk of stone?” he asked, motioning towards the centre of the Underground. There, in the middle, one could see an enormous formation of untouched rock jutting forward from the ground, connecting ‘earth and sky’ in their small encompassed world. “They call it Atlas. There are other, smaller pillars keeping the cavern system intact, but as long as you look out for that one, you will find navigating the streets quite easy.”

It seemed reasonable to assume that Mikasa had had at least this much figured out already, but he felt that the time was just as good as any to finally bring the topic up.

Fortunately, they didn’t need to stray far from the main road; the place was still right where he remembered.

* * *

Passing a rickety wooden fence, Levi found himself in a narrow corridor leading to a courtyard between two larger buildings. There was only enough space for one person to squeeze through at a time, but at least the courtyard was wide enough to accommodate a patio for each house and a small dried-up fountain with a tiny broken brass statue on the top. It probably had been shaped in the image of a woman, with only its feet and shins remaining now as a grotesque reminder of a time long past.

“What is this place?” Mikasa asked, her voice quiet.

“Imagine it like a store that only _certain_ people know about” Levi explained. Out of the three doors opening from the courtyard, he pointed towards the middle one. “Let’s pay old Anselm a visit.”

As he moved closer, he could see the door slightly ajar. With a wave of his hand, he signalled Mikasa to get behind his back.

Well… Things had never been dull around these parts.

Listening carefully, he could hear a distant voice coming from inside, but it definitely wasn’t the one he expected. At least two people communicated in the language of whispers and agitated growls, and he could hear one of them rummaging around somewhere in the back.

He nodded towards Mikasa before kicking the door open. In this situation, using the element of surprise seemed like the best option.

It didn’t take long for him to find the first intruder frozen in shock, buried waist-deep in a large, leather-covered trunk at the opposite end of the room. His friend wasn’t more prepared either; the sudden attack found him while he busied himself trying to tie a filthy sack around the head of a kneeling figure.

Levi decided to target him first, incapacitating him swiftly and without much effort. However, as he moved inside the shop, he could suddenly see a small shadow darting towards the door, swiftly making his escape.

Still, he had more pressing concerns to worry about.

With the first goon lying flat on the floor, he quickly turned his attention towards his burlier friend now armed with a knife, slowly and quietly backing towards the corner. Truth to be told, he violently disliked thugs that started running off at the mouth as soon as they found themselves cornered, so he had no complaints about the silence.

He pounced on the man without much thinking. The guy might’ve been twice his size, but no one seemed to have taught him how to fight properly in close quarters; he waved that shabby little dirk around clumsier than a child, growing more and more frustrated as his lithe opponent dodged each and every one of his strikes. It didn’t take long for Levi to outsmart him and knock his head back to the wall with a force destructive enough to render him unconscious.

“I caught this one” he heard a voice speaking from behind and he turned to find Mikasa standing in the doorway dragging a small, scrawny-looking looking brat by the collar. The boy had blood oozing from his mouth, showing that his escape attempt had probably earned him at least a broken tooth if not more.

“Fuck you” he groaned as Mikasa hurled him inside the shop with a suspiciously calm expression painted on her face while she still held on to the hem of shirt. Levi assumed that he must’ve already exhausted her patience while outside, as the cold glare of death wasn’t an easy one to earn.

“You’re all dead! Dead! You hear me? No one fucks around with the Vinters” he screamed, spurting blood all over but _mostly_ over Levi’s shoes.

Suddenly, he felt an untameable urge to plant the guy headfirst into the fountain outside but unfortunately for him, the Captain had something even worse pop into mind. “Strange of you to say that,” he started, voice alarmingly calm, “because I thought this was still Throatcutter territory…”

The boy blinked once then twice in surprise but it didn’t take long for him to regain his fiery temper. “Fuck that bitch!”

“Oh I’m sure she will fuck all three of you through _and_ through when she learns that you’ve been sneaking around her backyard…”

He could see recognition dawning on him as fear slowly replaced the bravado in his eyes. Much better.

“Now get out of here,” Levi hissed, “before I start warming you up for her _myself_.”

Playing along with his game, Mikasa suddenly loosened her grip on the boy’s collar which resulted in him falling face-first onto the ground. Seemingly unaffected by the impact, he quickly scrawled back to his feet and made his way towards the door with unparalleled haste. The other two must’ve been awake for a while now, because they were just as quick to use the chance to make their escape through ungraceful hobbling.

“Good riddance” Levi sighed, turning from the door to the silent prisoner still shackled by his binds. With a swift motion, he pulled the dirty old sack from the man’s face, revealing a pair of terrified eyes and a mouth nervously twitching under a rich moustache. “You need better security, Anselm.”

“Levi?”

“I have a few questions I need to ask” he explained before untying him. “And you better be honest about your answers, because I’ve just used up all the goodwill I had left for today.”

“Of… of course! Let’s get you comfortable… Um… Well… Can I offer you something to drink, perhaps?’

“Anselm” Levi warned, his voice going dangerously low.

“Alright, alright,” he protested. “What is it that you want to know?”

Levi glanced back towards Mikasa, urging silently to shut the door. His message carried through well, because she quickly turned and closed the main entrance with a forceful push.

“Maria Schulz. I want to know _everything_ you can tell me about her.”

“Schulz? You mean…” he hesitated, but a curt nod from Levi was enough encouragement for Anselm to find his voice again. “Miss Schulz, yes… I had dealings with her, though of course I did not know her personally... She was a trustworthy customer, always ready to pay upfront…”

Levi’s eyes darkened, but this time, he didn’t even need to voice his next question.

“She wanted medicine… pills… You know; the ones ladies take to keep themselves _safe_.” If he hadn’t been sweating already, he was doing it now… “There is a guy over in Acheron, he has the good stuff… I mean if you have the money, he can even make it clean and harmless. He used to be a chemist upstairs, had some questionable dealings, ended up down here… You know how the story goes.”

“Why did she need them?”

“How on earth would I know?” he whined, “I’m just a ferryman. I make deals, find the right people..”

“Of course you do” Levi sighed. “When was the last time you heard about her?”

“I… I’m not sure. Two months, maybe three now? Why are you asking me all this?”

He wasn’t the smartest man, but Levi could tell that he was finally catching on.

“Was there anything different about your deals lately? Out of the ordinary, maybe?”

“No… I don’t know, I just talked to that guy, Rothaid, or whatever his name was. Strange name, if you ask me, doesn’t really roll of the tongue, if you get what I’m saying… Never liked him much, but haven’t heard from him ever since.”

“Maria Schulz is dead,” Levi explained curtly. “Are you sure that you can’t tell me anything else?”

Anselm’s eyes grew wide for a moment, but instead of growing more agitated, he seemed to have calmed down. “I swear I know nothing. I swear on my life. Those pills were supposed to be clean… He swore they were clean…”

“She was murdered.”

Anselm’s mouth fell open. It seemed as if whatever he had been trying to say got caught in his throat.

“That will be all” Levi concluded. “Go scrub yourself, old man. You stink.”

Finally, he rose back to his feet and started walking towards the door, trying to fight off the cramp that was threatening to set into his foot. None of Anselm’s prattling sounded like much, but maybe there was something important hidden among that rubble of stuttered words, something he failed to notice the first time.

He needed some time to think.


	6. Broken Wings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long with this update; I have actually been experimenting with other story ideas for rivamika. I will be travelling this weekend so I have absolutely no idea when the next chapter will be ready. I will try to squeeze in an update as early as I can next week, but no promises about the date. Thank you for your continued support!

Five… Six… Seven…

Seven tolls and after that, silence.

“What are we waiting for?” Mikasa asked with a curious expression painted over her face. She watched the city below with growing interest, allowing her gaze to trail the intricate paths inside the giant maze of serpentine streets and mysterious back-alleys.

There had been little to no conversation between her and the Captain since the time they had left Anselm’s rundown little store behind. He was, after all, quick to make it clear that he preferred to think alone and in silence – and truth to be told, she had no quarrels against that.

Maybe the old man’s testimony made more sense to him than it did to her, because Mikasa felt that it sure as hell hadn’t brought her any closer to a revelation. Still, it must’ve been an important piece in a puzzle she couldn’t quite yet understand, so she tried her best to memorize every detail of the conversation as she once again found herself trailing behind Levi while he navigated around town.

She half-expected the Captain to lead her back to their makeshift base of operations but instead of turning his attention back towards the brothel, he chose to lead her even further from their dedicated cornerstone. Soon, she found the smooth, even terrain below her feet turning into steep inclines, forcing them to climb higher and higher along the rough stone walls.

As if he had just awakened from a daze, the Captain turned towards her, considering her question for a moment before offering a reply. “I want to show you something,” he explained with a hint of uncertainty, “and I need you to learn it as best as you can.”

Mikasa followed his gaze as it travelled from her standing form back towards the city.

“If I told you to run back to Elysium now, how long do you think it would take?”

“30 to 40 minutes as long as we manage to avoid dead ends.”

Levi nodded, but his expression remained hard to read. “Forget about that. You wouldn’t make it in less than an hour.” He paused for a moment before turning back towards her. “Of course, if you had your gear, it would take you no more than 10 minutes, maybe 15 on a bad day.”

“You said that we had to make do without it,” Mikasa reminded him; eyes narrowing in suspicion. What was he getting at?

“I did, didn’t I? Now here’s the thing… You have as much chance on foot as a bird with broken wings has against the neighbour’s cat.”

Mikasa sighed. She couldn’t understand where the conversation was heading. “Maybe the cat will end up losing an eye if it isn’t careful.” She could’ve sworn that in that moment, she saw the Captain’s lips curl into a faint smile. Either that, or the shadows had already started playing tricks on her.

“Follow me as fast and as well as you can” he instructed.

It was a bit too sudden after all that stalling - the way he quickly turned around and threw himself from the roof. It all caught Mikasa by surprise and she could barely stop herself from crying out as her arms reached out instinctively.

“You’re already falling behind” Levi grumbled from below, and as she walked to the ledge, she could see him standing on the building just ahead, dusting his pants with a frown.

“Bastard” Mikasa growled, but she needed no further encouragement to push herself forward, allowing her body to fly towards her destination before deftly rolling forward to soften her landing.

“Less frill, more function, _cadet_ ,” he taunted. “Now try to keep up.”

And with that, he was gone again.

“Oh I will,” Mikasa growled. She found the thought of beating him down to size – quite literally – positively motivating.

He was fast, faster than she could’ve imagined. Even without his gear, his body moved from one place to another as if he weighed nothing – very much like a cat. He was quick to climb, jump and run and Mikasa found it incredibly hard to copy his movements while keeping up with his speed.

He dove into an alleyway and for a moment, she thought she had him - the building next door was a tall one – but by the time she had managed to descend safely into the gaping chasm, he was already close to reaching the top.

“Fuck” she growled, steeling herself for the long climb. Her wrists were hurting and she had already scraped her fingers by missing her target one too many times, but she couldn’t give up. She couldn’t bear to imagine the smug expression on his face…

She wasn’t going to lose.

* * *

His lungs were on fire and he was already out of breath.

“Fuck” he hissed. It had been too long and he was terribly out of practice. He allowed himself a short pause to roll his shoulder. He could hear the noise of pebbles rolling and he glanced behind just in time to see an arm rising behind a ledge.

He was out of time.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he growled. She really was persistent.

He was just about to lunge forward when he heard a chafing sound that sent the warning bells tingling inside his mind. Turning on his heel, he hurried back to the edge of the roof, just in time to get a hold on her slipping arm.

“Damn” he whispered; voice barely audible. _That was way too close for comfort_ …

Her fingers found a strong grip on his forearm and with his feet braced against the narrow ledge, he helped her haul herself up.

“Let’s call it a day” he sighed, reaching to brush the hair from his face, and by the time his senses caught up, it was already too late.

He could feel the ground disappearing from below his feet and his arms instinctively darted out, grabbing at thin air. He could do nothing to dampen the fall and he winced as his back crashed against the flat, unwelcoming stonework of the abandoned rooftop.

“Are you out of your mind?!” he fumed.

“… Maybe.”

He wasn’t expecting that answer. He heard shuffling next to him and as he turned his head to the side, he saw her motionless form lying in the dust next to him.

“How long?” she asked with her eyes glued to the pitch dark ceiling above them.

“Care to provide some context?” The question frustrated him, probably more than it should have. There were too many answers to that… too many he wished not to share.

“How long have you lived here?”

Finally, she tore her lingering gaze from the emptiness above, allowing him to take in the sight of her fully.

She was just as exhausted as he was, or maybe even more. He could see her dark lashes fluttering as her perfectly arched lips parted just a little while her chest heaved up and down in a steady rhythm.

“Too long” he answered, forcing himself to turn his eyes away.

“Why did you join the Survey Corps?”

“Because I was an idiot.”

The answer came on its own and Levi silently reprimanded himself for his candidness. He didn’t know how she would react, he couldn’t tell, but when no reply came from her, he found his gaze wandering back towards her.

“Aren’t we all?” She finally concluded after a long pause. Her voice was soft, unguarded. He wondered if he had ever seen her like this before.

“Some of us more than the others” he chuckled, all against his better judgement.

“But can you imagine your life any other way?”

_Ouch_. It was one of those questions that cut deeper than it should have.

“No.”

“Even after all that happened?”

The answer brought him more pain than he could’ve imagined.

“Even like this.”

Moments passed by and turned into minutes. He had lost track of time.

“Don’t worry, Captain,” she whispered, “saving idiots is my speciality.”

_Fuck_ , he thought as he raised his arm to cover his eyes. Mikasa Ackerman just handed him his ass and he could do _nothing_ but smirk. Maybe he really deserved a knock in the head.


	7. Outsider

The water felt pleasantly warm against her skin. She didn’t even realize how exhausted she had been feeling until she submerged her strained body in the small, old-fashioned tub. With eyes closed and arms crossed over her chest, Mikasa tried pouring all of her frustrations into one deep exhale, hoping to purify her mind and body of the crushing weight that had been stubbornly clinging to her shoulders ever since last night.

The Captain still had his head attached to his head, but that was the end of the rather short list of her current accomplishments.

It was true that she had indeed succeeded in retrieving him from his captors and managed to circumvent a mediocre assassination attempt, and all in all, she should’ve been content with the situation as they had somehow both made through the chase without a scratch, but she couldn’t help but feel uneasy about the whole situation, especially with the old, unfamiliar walls of their dubious refuge closing in on her.

Those worries weren’t helping her at all. She needed to relax, to come to terms and to let go.

She could feel the chafed and bruised skin of her fingers and palms protesting against the cleansing touch of water as she slid deeper below the surface, and she tried her best to ignore the stinging sensation of pain.

She knew it would stop soon enough – she had, after all, already collected sufficient experience on such matters. It wasn’t what really bothered her, but it was a welcome distraction.

A sudden knock awakened her from her musings and before she could’ve reacted, the door swung open - only to be jammed closed just as quickly.

“Mikasa” she heard the Captain speaking in a rushed tone, but thanks to the protective cover of the folding screen hiding her from sight, she could only guess his movements.

“Don’t be alarmed and do as you are told,” he continued in a hurry.

She was quite certain it wasn’t all he had been meaning to say, but the conversation had been cut short by another sudden intrusion from the hallway.

“Good evening,” an unfamiliar but masculine voice called, and Mikasa felt her arms involuntarily dropping in front of her chest, even though there was no way the newcomer to see her from the entrance. “If you wouldn’t mind, your company is requested downstairs,” he continued, voice unsettlingly jolly.

“Didn’t anyone teach you to knock, _brat_?”

Mikasa was all too familiar with that tone. Her muscles tensed, ready to jump.

“Ah, well… there’s no helping that now” the stranger laughed absent-mindedly and she could imagine them rubbing at the nape of their neck in mocked embarrassment, but the act was too weak and sloppy to convince anyone. “Still, if you could hurry up… We’re on a tight schedule, you see.”

She could imagine the frown on the Captain’s face, but she didn’t expect him to hesitate this long with his reply. Was he weighing his options? Was this man trouble? One of her hands slid down to the rim of the tub, grasping hard for support. She was ready jump. She was definitely feeling uneasy, especially with two men in the room, but her instincts weren’t screaming danger at her… At least not yet.

“Tell them that we will be there in a minute” Levi instructed; his voice low and his tone sombre.

“No can do,” the man chided. “And miss, start shaking a leg, please. We don’t have all day.”

“Maybe you might want to step outside, first” Levi interrupted.

The tension in the room was quite apparent. Mikasa was rather certain that the few occasions she had actually heard the Captain’s voice drop _this_ low all ended with broken bones and dislocated joints.

Whatever witty comeback the man was trying to come up with, he didn’t get a chance to flash it. She could hear shuffling and a surprised gasp before the door suddenly closed with a loud bang.

“Captain…?”

There was no answer. Once again, she was alone in the room.

She quickly reached for the towel and scrubbed herself – mostly – dry before putting her borrowed clothes back on. Checking whether the daggers remained in place, she tapped the legs of her boots, relieved to find everything ready and at arms’ reach.

She strode to the door, hand balled into a fist, ready to face whatever nuisance the city chose to throw at them this time.

If only she had known, she probably would’ve armed herself better…

* * *

Levi stared down the young man standing across the hallway. He had never seen him before, never even heard of him. The brat didn’t even bother to share his name and he didn’t care to ask; he knew who he was working for and that was more than enough. Still, if someone like him felt confident enough to start running at the mouth like that, things might’ve changed more in his absence than he had first guessed…

Lousy timing, as always, he thought.

There was something about this kid that irritated him considerably. He was around eighteen; taller than average with a slim build, an expressive face and his long chestnut hair bound in a tight, neatly woven braid. His smugness was nothing new; he had seen his fair share of harebrained loudmouths who believed that working for someone with a name would somehow also change their rank in the pecking order. He made a mental note to remind him the harsh nature of reality later. For now, the lecture needed to wait.

He could hear footsteps on the other side of the door and he pushed himself away from the wall, positioning himself between the room and their self-appointed attendant.

As usual, Mikasa didn’t seem to waste any time with trouble brewing on the horizon. She opened the door with a stern expression, her long fingers idling on the handle just a moment longer as her gaze bore into his.

Strands of her hair were still wet from the rushed bath she had been forced to take, but otherwise she seemed sharp and collected. In her eyes, Levi recognized the familiar glint of alertness, something he had often seen during both missions and training sessions. He didn’t exactly understand what he had been expecting, but the sight of her made him feel surprisingly relieved. He still felt guilty for his sudden intrusion of her privacy, but his apologies needed to wait.

“Ready?” he asked and she nodded.

“Not so fast,” the brat chuckled. “Safety first” he explained with his arms thrown wide as he stepped forward, his gaze intent on Mikasa.

“Don’t even think about it” she growled, her posture suddenly stiffening.

“Those are the rules” he shrugged, his confidence visibly shaken under her menacing glare.

Levi exhaled the air he didn’t notice he had been holding.

What the hell had he been so worried about? Why was his body so tense and his mind so unnervingly focused?

“Enough with this,” he grumbled, ending the argument before it even started. “Let’s go.”

Mikasa didn’t hesitate to fall in step beside him while their unwanted friend decided to hang back a little and follow them at a comfortable distance. It was a wise decision, considering his earlier, not-too-flattering entrance.

“There are some people you are yet to meet, Mikasa” he explained calmly as they walked towards the stairs, down to the first floor and across the hall, to the exact same room where their journey had started earlier that day. “We’re not in any danger, but again, don’t expect much hospitality.”

The girl’s presence had turned to whole situation on its head. She was an unfamiliar element, something new, something unpredictable. He could only hope that she would keep trusting his orders regardless of how things eventually chose to unfold.

Even after all this time, he found her stubbornness and temper hard to manage at certain points, especially as her direct superior. He liked to think that he now had a good grasp on her, but underestimating the girl had never earned him anything good in the past… So he wasn’t going to hope for things to change now, of all times.

“Seems like the way of living around here,” she stated in an uninterested tone and Levi felt is emotionless expression breaking up a little.

“Perhaps” he admitted before glancing behind.

The boy, as if he had been woken from a dream, suddenly snapped to attention and tried to force his way ahead of them, probably aware that his duties of an escort might’ve required a little bit more… firmness on his part.

Levi, of course, wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction and with as straight of a face as he could manage, pressed down hard on the handle, letting the door slide open with a disconcerting creak.

“I have to admit,” he started as he strode over the threshold, one hand still resting against the barbed surface, “I’m quite surprised that you came to see me, Greta.”

* * *

She wondered how much time it would take to get used to the bizarre flow of this world _below_ , because each time she had managed to convince herself that her grasp on things had finally started to tighten, something would instantly come up to prove how wrong and naïve she had been.

It was hard to retain confidence while she constantly found herself forced to rethink and reconsider.

This time was no different. He was asking her to walk headfirst into a den full of wolves with nothing but his word as a safeguard.

And she did, not only because he asked, but because she found that she had indeed come to trust him during the years that had passed them by all too quickly. He was a man whose word has never led her astray, no matter how hard she struggled against it at certain times. And each time she had been reminded of those failures, she felt just as embarrassed as she had been in those moments of weakness.

So she followed, _because_ she trusted him and _because_ she realized that she wished no harm to come to him; not in the world above and not in this place below.

The room around them felt just as suffocating as it had during their first visit, although this time, the reception proved to be much less… straightforward.

She instantly recognized Astrid as the person seated behind a large lacquered desk; the long, frilly cuffs of her shirt accentuating her long hands as she rested her chin against them with the glimmer of curiosity shining from her eyes. She didn’t appear to be posing any threat to them, but her companion, on the other hand, seemed like a whole different matter…

Sitting at the edge of the desk with her legs crossed, Mikasa found another woman waiting, one she had never seen before. She was tall even while seated, her limbs long and slender, just like her face. Her dirty blond locks were braided into two simple plaits that rested on her shoulders, reminding her the way mothers in Shiganshina used to braid their daughters’ sun-kissed curls. She found it hard to guess her age; her features seemed somehow ageless. Her bony cheeks and jaws suggested a woman well above her thirties, but the freckles splattered across her face combined with her frivolous hairstyle made her appear younger than she probably was. Her one visible eye was, as far as Mikasa could tell, a brilliant green, but the other - or whatever was left of it - remained hidden by a nondescript black eyepatch.

This was a woman who had seen and survived a lot, that much Mikasa could instantly tell.

Inside the room, she was the one she needed to look out for.

“Well-well, what has the cat dragged in this time?” she teased, her voice deep and raspy. “Just what type of trouble are you bringing to my doorstep, Levi? Barely a few hours in and already breaking noses...”

“Maybe you should take the trash out every once a while so I don’t have to keep stepping in it while doing my job.”

“Your job?” the woman asked, mocking him with feigned amusement. “Is that why you are here, Levi?”

“Private affair.”

With a quiet hum, her attention slowly shifted from Levi until her eyes rested on Mikasa. “Private, hm?”

Mikasa understood the challenge in her gaze and decided to face it, her expression stern and unchanging.

“My name is Greta Heinrich. It’s nice to finally meet you, Mikasa Ackerman.”

The way her name rolled of her tongue took Mikasa by surprise. She felt her body tensing, although she couldn’t quite understand why. This woman looked at her in a way that made a shiver run through her spine and not because her voice was threatening, but because it was so _telling_.

“What do you want, Greta,” Levi interrupted after a moment of uncomfortable silence. As Mikasa glanced towards him, she could see something in his expression, something resembling a hint of… concern.

Apparently, the woman didn’t take too keenly to his interruption. Her head snapped back towards him, levelling him with her gaze. “I want you to start pulling your weight. I have a job for you.”

Levi’s first reaction came out as a grunt. “I’m a bit busy now, as you might’ve noticed.”

Wrong answer. Mikasa could tell from the way the woman’s lips curled into a smile.

“Well, Miss Ackerman” she addressed her, the focus of her sole remaining eye now once again locked on her form. “How much do you know about this man?”

It was strange, how she kept accenting her name. There was something behind it, but could it have been simply her reputation as a soldier?

“Leave her alone” Levi grumbled. “She got mixed up in this because of me. She doesn’t have anything to do with this mess, understood?”

From Greta, his attention shifted to Astrid, but it was easy to tell from the glimmer in their eyes that this time, he was not the one dictating the rules. Still, the two women remained silent, waiting curiously for him to finally make his decision.

“Fine. I’ll get it done for you, but after that, I’m out.”

Mikasa watched the exchange in silence, eyes slightly narrowing at the Captain’s sudden withdrawal. They had threatened to blackmail him - that much was certain, but what could’ve been so important for him to hide that he became reckless enough to outright accept the proposal?

“How kind of you” Greta chimed, her tone biting. “Roland can give you the details.” She nodded towards the young man behind them, reminding Mikasa that he had been there the whole time.

Levi didn’t bother to grace the statement with a reply. Turning on his heels, he practically threw the door open, almost knocking Roland back into the wall as he proved a bit too slow to step out of the way.

Something was going on, and this time, Mikasa wasn’t so certain that her delicate position as an outsider would protect her much longer from the secrets of the world below.


	8. Good Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to check out chapter 7 if you haven't already! Had to rush the editing and proofreading for this chapter, so I'm sorry in advance for mistakes that I might've overlooked. Thank you for your continued support!

Splinters of wood exploded into the air as the large, monstrous body crashed into a heap of rickety old wooden boxes.

Sending the man flying was a considerable feat on its own, but the spectacular knock-out couldn’t have been achieved without the joint effort of the two soldiers competing for the title ‘ _humanity’s strongest’_.

With their last opponent rendered harmless, Levi took a second to recall the events leading up to this moment.

* * *

“I will deal with this alone” Levi groaned as he took the steps leading upstairs by twos. He was still fuming over the unexpected visit from the alpha bitch herself; he had precious little time to spare and now he needed to deal with thugs and lowlifes because the people in this accursed place just couldn’t pass up a chance to boss him around.

“No way” Mikasa replied, her tone suggesting that the matter was now beyond dispute.

“This is all below you, Mikasa” he sighed, jerking the door open and waving at her impatiently to step inside. “There is no need for you to get involved.”

“Compared to what? Slicing titan flesh? Or the occasional bludgeoning of criminals and shady government officials?”

Levi rolled his eyes and slammed the door shut behind him. He could very well tell that she wasn’t going to budge. “Fine” he groaned. “We will take care of it in the morning.”

He walked to the desk and after taking one last look at the small piece of paper with instructions, he tossed it aside.

“I need to bathe” he said.

Mikasa nodded. “I will step outside.”

“If you feel more comfortable that way” he replied with a sigh. “But I’d rather not have you wandering far. This isn’t the best place for night-time strolls.”

As if to corroborate his statement, the sounds of intoxicated laughter in the background grew louder, causing Mikasa to instinctively cross her arms over her chest.

The reaction did not surprise him, but it still managed to draw his attention. “Does this place bother you?” he asked, his tone much calmer and more collected than before.

She shook her head. “No” she replied quietly. “I’m… I’m not a child. I understand how the world works.”

“Do you?” Curiosity drew his eyes to hers, but this time, he found her shying away from his gaze.

“I’d like to think that I do.” This time, her voice was barely a whisper. He could see her fingers ghosting over her neck out of habit, probably looking for the familiar comfort of her scarf.

“I see.” He blinked slowly, weighing whether to say anything on the matter but decided to let it go. “So… about that bath…”

“Wait!” Mikasa called out. “The water… We need to change it.”

She was right. She had used the bathwater and no one had been there to replace it. He considered his options for a moment, but he didn’t find the thought of a cold bath appealing at all.

“Couldn’t be easy just this once, could it?” he sighed.

“I will get you some warm water from downstairs” Mikasa offered.

“The two of us can make it in one round. Let’s go.”

* * *

Carrying two buckets full of clean water, Mikasa found herself struggling to keep her back straight as they made their way back towards the room. The events of the day were really catching up to her.

She had missed sleep the night before, as they had had little time to spare before the Captain’s appearance at court, and had been on her feet ever since, trying to navigate this strange new world.

“Who is she really?” she asked, kicking the door shut behind her.

“Who? Greta?” Levi quickly made himself busy pouring the water into the tub they had quickly emptied before.

“Yes” Mikasa replied. “There is something about her, something I can’t quite place…”

“Do you want the long story, or the short version?”

She could hear the ruffling of clothes as he started undressing out of her sight, behind the cover. She turned her gaze towards the other end of the room, in a mostly meaningless effort to give him some sort of privacy. But then again, there was little privacy to speak of in the room, as she soon found her eyes drawn towards the mirror, in which she saw the same scene reflected - but with his discarded clothes hanging neatly over the folding screen.

 “I think we have time” she concluded after suddenly becoming aware of the silence stretching between them. Stubbornly, she turned to face the door, trying to ignore the warmth creeping up her cheeks.

“Throatcutter Greta” Levi mused, and Mikasa could hear the splashing of water as he submerged his body under the surface. “People had high hopes for this place, the underground, but it became apparent pretty soon that things would never work out. For years, it was chaos: the government struggled to retain some sort of order against the people taking over the streets, then after a while, things just… settled.”

He paused for a moment, probably considering where to take the story next. “What do you think, Mikasa… How can one make money in a place like this?”

Well, of course, she didn’t need to think hard about the obvious answers, but she felt that there was more to his question and suddenly, she felt uneasy to give the wrong answer.

“Go on…” he encouraged, “say it.”

“Well… From what we’ve already seen, there is the drug trade, the black market and… prostitution.” After a momentary pause, she suddenly added: “And of course the regular thing, like clothes shops and food stores…”

“Of course, but there’s no need to blanch it over; you are indeed right. But besides all that, the Underground is responsible for supplying the military with steel, firearms and certain luxury products.”

“Steel? But isn’t the production of military-grade steel under strict government control?”

“It is, but the stocks are mostly supplied by the forges down here.”

She could hear water splashing again and fingers scratching against skin. Did he start washing his hair?

“Anyway” he continued, “the military always managed to keep a strong presence in the western districts, but that eventually cost them losing influence in the other regions. Twenty years ago or so, this place was a fucking death-trap. About fifteen years ago, a few people banded together to restore some semblance of order to these parts.”

“Were you…?” Mikasa felt uncertain whether she had the right to ask.

“Yes” he answered. “Greta Heinrich, Efa Straub and Rasmus Hansen – the muscle, the mind and the money. Somehow, they managed to take control and kept the government from taking advantage of the situation in the aftermath. From time to time, there have always been would-be kings trying to take over, but nobody has succeeded ever since.”

He groaned, pushing himself from the tub. Mikasa waited patiently, eyes still glued to the door.

“Mikasa” she heard him call, his tone strangely sober.

“Yes?” she asked, feeling somewhat anxious.

“There is no towel.”

* * *

If she thought her night couldn’t get any more uncomfortable, she was gravely mistaken. After handing the towel over the folding screen to the Captain, she had suddenly found herself confronted by another problem: the suddenly very pressing concern of sleeping arrangements.

While the Captain had assured her that he had absolutely no claims towards the bed, she had still felt somewhat guilty for – unintentionally - forcing him to relinquish even the simple comforts of a good night’s sleep. Still, he wouldn’t budge, so… There she was now, lying wide awake under the covers, listening to the night-time murmurs of the town.

“Stop fretting over it” Levi sighed on his makeshift bedroll.

“I’m not _fretting_ ” Mikasa whispered.

“Then why are you still awake?”

She opened her mouth to answer, but failed to come up with an adequate retort.

“Doesn’t sleeping on the floor fall below your standard of cleanliness?” she asked after a few seconds of silence, half teasing and half curious.

“No. I had it cleaned.”

He sounded serious. Mikasa couldn’t help but snort at the thought.

“Relax,” Levi spoke and she could hear him turning under the covers. “This room works as a safe house. It’s never used for business.”

She needed a moment to register what he meant by that. Somehow, the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind before, which she now found somewhat strange. But then again, if he of all people trusted the cleanliness of their surroundings, she had nothing to worry about.

And suddenly, something occurred to her; a question she had never thought to ask – would never have dared, to be honest – but now she felt it rolling to the tip of her tongue, finding voice before she even knew it.

“Captain” she called; her voice barely a whisper, “may I ask you something?”

“Do I want to hear it?” He was sharp. He must’ve caught on to her hesitation.

“No. Probably not” Mikasa admitted. “Forget about it.”

“Go ahead” he sighed.

“No, it’s really not important.”

“You can’t chicken out now.”

Somehow, she felt he was right. It was too late. “There is a rumour…”

“Rumour about what?”

“About who.”

“Hm?”

“Did you… Have you… You and Petra, that is…”

Suddenly, Mikasa felt embarrassment and shame washing over her. What was she thinking, bringing her up in a conversation like this? She had no right… Whether it was the truth or just foolish gossip, it was none of her business. What on earth made her ask?

“No.”

His answer was curt and clean and Mikasa felt extremely thankful for the cover of darkness.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“There is no harm in asking” Levi sighed. “I guess.”

The silence in the room felt suffocating.

“I heard it too,” he admitted after a minute or two, “but there’s no point fighting hearsay like that. But you are surely aware of that by now…”

“What do you mean?”

“Since you were the one who started it, you will probably not tear my head off if I ask: have you and Eren…?”

She could feel her eyes growing wide and an intense blush spreading across her cheek. Of course… What else could he have been referring too? Suddenly, she felt very stupid for not realizing it at first.

“No.”

Her answer was neither as quick nor as decisive as his.

“Do people think…?” she asked, not brave enough to fully voice her question.

“Some.”

“Did you?”

“No.” After a moment, he added: “I’m quite certain I’d have noticed.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“Why not? Isn’t this what we are doing right now?”

“Point taken” Mikasa grumbled. “I said I was sorry.”

“And I told you there was no harm done.”

It was impossible to gauge his thoughts, which only made Mikasa more frustrated. With a huff, she turned quite forcefully to face the other side.

As the covers settled, she could’ve sworn that she heard the Captain mumbling, but the only thing that caught her ear was the word ‘brat’.

* * *

Fortunately, their opponents were simple thugs from the gang they had already met the day before. Just like Levi had predicted, Greta hadn’t been too happy about their presence inside her territory and decided to send him to deal with the problem.

With no real dangers of bodily harm coming to either of them, Mikasa found that a bit of physical exercise was the perfect way to keep her invasive thoughts at bay.

The building must’ve been nothing more than a simple hide-out, as they found only a handful of people inside – most of them completely unarmed. She listened patiently while the Captain gave them his own version of a PSA; a short speech interlaced with various threats and profanities, to which of course the audience reacted with similar monologues of their own, resulting in something that resembled mostly a drunken tavern brawl.

It was all very aggressive and chaotic, but most importantly, short-lived. Other than an outraged woman trying to bite her at the arm, Mikasa had absolutely no close calls during the fight. Even then, she found the banshee scream the worst part, from which her eardrums only recovered minutes later.

Two unconscious, one crying in a corner, one crawling towards the backdoor and one hiding behind the counter in terror was their total.

“Tell me that there was actually a point to all this” she sighed, brushing her bangs behind her ear. They were standing next to a shallow well with a bucket full of water in Mikasa’s other hand.

“There was.” With that, Levi leaned forward and nodded towards his hands, prompting her to slowly pour water over them. “Now we know where to go next.”

“Wonderful” she grumbled.

“You can quit anytime you want.”

She rolled her eyes. “Or we could just hurry up and finish this instead.”

“What? Didn’t get enough sleep?”

“Probably more than you did” she retorted, swiping under her eye to mirror the dark circles decorating the Captain’s eyes.

“And I’m still not the one getting caught off-guard” he taunted. “Start pulling your weight, _brat_.”

Somehow, she could tell that this one was going to be yet another long day…


	9. Survival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments! You can't imagine how happy each one made me! I'm really glad that you are finding the story interesting so far and reading your thoughts is my greatest motivation! I'm gonna let you in on a secret: it's been a slow day at work and I've managed to sneak a whole chapter... Hope you will enjoy this one too, because I had a lot of fun writing it (even if I shouldn't have been)!

The sound of gunfire drew him back to his senses. Beside him, the last remaining window exploded into a million pieces, sending tiny glass shards flying across the room like tiny, razor-sharp missiles.

He could feel a small surge of pain awakening inside only to be instantly drowned by the rush of adrenaline.

Diving headfirst towards an overturned table, Levi managed to dodge the next incoming bullet as it flew past and above him just by inches.

He had been careless.

He had thrust his hand into the mouth of the beast and the accursed mongrel was biting down hard.

He should never have forgotten the first rule of this wretched place – the first rule being: _Survival._

* * *

The building ahead didn’t seem any different from its neighbours: it was still in use but somewhat rundown, with most – but not all - of its windows barred and broken. The large door on the eastern side hinted at a tall, spacious hall or a storeroom inside but other than that, she failed to gauge any information regarding the dangers lurking and the opponents waiting on the other side.

She heard soft footsteps approaching as the Captain slowly made his way beside her.

“There are two other doors,” he said, eyes glued to the only visible entrance, “I tried the one on the southern wall and it was locked. The front door, on the other hand, has been having quite a lot of traffic.”

“Let me guess,” Mikasa replied, tilting her head slightly, “I’m taking the back?”

“No” he replied, his voice stern. With his hand curled into a fist, Mikasa noticed him nervously biting down on his finger. She would never have taken him for a nail-biter. Could it have been an old habit that he had managed to grow out of?

“There is a window you can use to get in,” Levi continued. “Someone with your figure can easily make it through and you won’t need to worry about unpleasant surprises. The room behind is empty, probably unused.”

“You should’ve sent me scouting, then,” she argued, her voice quiet.

“I need to know what we’re walking into,” he stated.

“So do I,” she answered.

He looked at her for a moment, weighing his thoughts before speaking. “You will do fine. The guys in the front were unarmed.”

“And the only person I’ve seen in the back had a rifle across the shoulder.”

He turned his gaze from her just as she noticed a tiny smirk appearing in the corner of his mouth. “Won’t even know what hit him.”

“Still…” Mikasa pressed on, “it would probably be wiser to stick together.”

“Since when have you been the one in charge, Mikasa?” he asked, his voice teasing rather than strict.

“I am just as much in charge as you are, _Levi_ ,” she stated.

If he found the sudden change in her demeanour perplexing, he didn’t show. “Trust me on this one,” he said after a long pause, finally willing to meet her eyes one more time.

“Do I have any other choice?” she sighed.

He shot her a curious look. “You do. Still, I’d prefer if we went with my plan.”

She regarded him for a moment before turning away. She didn’t like his plan. “Alright.”

“Thank you.” There was no trace of sarcasm in his tone.

* * *

It was just like he said; she found no living soul in the vicinity as she carefully snuck inside. The window must’ve been broken recently, as she could see shards of glass scattered around her when she finally put her feet down. Still, there were no splinters marring the windowsill and no broken glass panes left inside the frame, making her think that the repairs – be it glass or board - were already underway.

She tiptoed around the room making sure not to step on anything that might’ve drawn noise. She found two doors next to each other, both open and in working order. If her calculations were correct, the first door should’ve taken her to the foyer, the place Levi insisted she should avoid. The other option, the door on the right, was likely to take her further inside the building or lead her towards the back. Either way, it seemed to be the more reasonable choice between the two.

She turned the knob and waited, listening. Somewhere in the distance she could hear the faint sounds of a scuffle, but it had been dulled by the walls so much that the noise was barely noticeable even for her trained ears.

She pushed the door open, carefully surveying the room before stepping inside. She found herself at the end of a narrow corridor that seemed to be reaching towards the end of the building. Ahead of her, there was another door, this one slightly ajar. She stepped forward, pushing it slightly to reveal a room submerged in darkness with no torches to light the way. With a whisper of light filtering through the now open doorway, she could see traces of the only other door in the room, ushering her towards the northern side.

Following Levi’s strategy, this seemed like the path she was supposed to be taking. They needed to find the leader, a guy named Winters, and ‘pass on’ the message – probably meaning another lengthy beating. She frowned at the thought.

The sounds of conflict in the background were much clearer now. The wall to her right was probably the only thing separating her from the brawl.

Suddenly, she heard the familiar yet always unsettling blast as gunpowder exploded, making her stop and remain frozen in her tracks.

Something was not right.

In fact, nothing had been right from the start.

She could feel her instincts screaming at her. Why had she ignored them all along?

She made a lightning-fast turn towards the back, noticing how the light seemed to disappear as the door behind her quietly slid closed.

No.

NO.

She could feel the muscles in her leg tensing as she lunged towards the door, much like a cat pouncing from cover.

Her fingers curled against the doorknob in an iron grip and she pulled, no, tore at it with all the strength she had. With the rusty hinges practically screaming from exertion, the door flew open, dragging behind a heavy but low-statured human form with an expression of utter shock etched on his face.

He really didn’t have time to catch his breath, he probably couldn’t even feel the fingers digging into his shoulders as a large force collided with his abdomen, forcing his breath to hitch and his mouth to be flooded with a salty, unpleasant taste. He blacked out shortly after.

Mikasa dislodged her knee from the man’s stomach, letting him fall to the floor.

Her expression was as shocked as his was.

Reality came crashing down on her as she heard footsteps approaching from the other side of the door just ahead of her – towards the room she had originally entered from – and she quickly reached down to haul the unconscious body in the way as a grotesque lump of a doorstop.

She could hear another gunshot being fired and she suddenly remembered that by now, it had probably been the third, with the second one not even registering in her mind earlier.

Fuck.

Turning around, she rushed towards the end of the corridor, remembering that she had suspected it to lead towards the storage room earlier.

She kicked the door open without hesitation, drawing a couple of confused gazes on herself in the process. She couldn’t see the Captain anywhere, but she could see his opponents crouching behind cover, one kneeling and taking aim while the other busied himself with reloading, his moments now suspended in time momentarily.

The second one was closer. She dove for him first.

Trying to fend of the attack, he quickly raised his rifle in front of his chest, managing to push her off and keep her at a distance for the time being.

It all happened so fast…

She could already see his partner turning around, fumbling to aim the large barrel of her gun in such a crowded pace.

With blood rushing and her heart drumming in her ears, Mikasa fainted another attack and kicked the first gunman off of his feet. As he stumbled to regain balance, his grip on his weapon loosened, allowing her to twist it from his hand.

With a swift motion, she flipped the rifle around and knocked its owner out with a well-aimed strike to the side of his head.

The other one, however, was still a problem.

Mikasa used the momentum from her previous attack to swirl around and jump forward, launching herself at her attacker with the ferocity of a wild beast.

The deafening roar of the next gunshot left her ears ringing as she fell forward, using the rifle once again to deliver a blow that might as well have proven fatal to the person suffering it.

She wasn’t sure.

She didn’t care.

“Mikasa” she heard her name called – no, screamed – from across the room.

Pushing herself up from the now limp body she had fallen onto, she peered out from cover. As her eyes travelled to the mess in the far left corner, she found herself drawn to a familiar pair of eyes.

“Mikasa,” the Captain spoke; eyes wide and worry distorting his features. “Are you alright?”

A moment passed by as she stared back at him in silence.

“Captain, your head is bleeding.”

He blinked at her. Then his head fell forward, meeting the edge of the table with an ungraceful thud.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he growled.

The air had an unpleasant scent, a mixture of smoke smelling like blood and burnt gunpowder swirled around the room.

Suddenly, they could hear the cacophony of footsteps echoing above their head. Mikasa’s gaze narrowed.

Then suddenly, almost out of nowhere, a gunshot, deep and roaring like thunder resonating through the skies.

And after that, only silence.

* * *

Levi stared in disbelief at the man standing by the door.

“Thanks for your hard work” he sang, his voice theatrical as always, making Levi realize that he hated this guy’s guts, now more so than ever.

He was sitting on a short, tubby barrel with Mikasa leaning over him to wipe the blood from his face. She had insisted that she needed to check whether the cut needed stitches, but according to her, there had been a ‘lot of filth to get rid of’.

“The hell are you doing here?” Levi groaned. Among the many things he definitely didn’t want to see right now, Greta and her thugs ranked among the highest.

“I’m here to tell you that one; mission accomplished, and two; you are expected somewhere else.” As the boy spoke he unhung the rifle from his shoulders and started fiddling around with it, as if to deliberately draw attention to its fine making.

“What do you mean?” Levi snapped and suddenly, he could feel a sharp pain dulling his senses. “Hey!” he growled.

“Hold still” Mikasa chastised, seemingly unfazed by the sharpness of his tone.

Did she pinch him on purpose?

“I mean that you’ve done what you were asked to and it’s time for us to leave” Roland replied, shooting a curious look in their direction.

Of all the annoying things about him, Levi found his eyebrows to be the most ridiculous of all, as they seemed to have an independent will and a personality of their own.

“We haven’t even reached your guy just yet” Mikasa explained patiently while her eyes still refused to leave the Captain’s face.

“Truth to be told, I didn’t even need you to. You were just the decoy.” At least he had the decency to look apologetic.

“Figures” Levi growled.

 “Is that so?” Mikasa asked, her tone seemingly calm, but Levi could tell exactly what was going to happen as the words rolled off her tongue.

He tried to reach out to grab her, to stop her from doing anything stupid, but she was too fast.

With a few long steps, she strode up to Roland, stopping only when her nose almost brushed against his jaw. He seemed taken aback by the sudden change of events, but he wasn’t keen enough to understand the gesture.

“Look” he started, but didn’t have a chance to finish.

“Another little ploy like this and it’s going to be your blood being mopped up by a dirty rag” she explained to him calmly, eyes murderous but her gaze unwavering as she wiped her hands thoroughly in the cloth before tossing it at his chest.

Roland’s witty comments seemed to have failed him as he stared back into her eyes, seemingly mesmerized.

Levi felt his heart skipping a beat as the scene played out in front of him and probably for the hundredth time in the last few days, he found himself asking the same question: just what the hell was going on?

* * *

“Stop fidgeting” Mikasa called out as she felt the needle changing course for the tenth time already.

“I’m not fidgeting” the Captain growled. “Steady your hands or just stop doing it altogether.”

“My hands are steady as death” she bit back.

“Then maybe you should’ve paid attention during your training” he snapped, but the last word turned into a hiss as he felt her yanking on the thread way too hard, likely out of spite. “Mikasa” he warned, but she quickly interrupted him.

“You’re _not_ in a bargaining position, so stop _frowning_ if you want this scar to heal properly!”

He sighed. She was probably right.

There has been a tension between them ever since they had left the scene of the fight. They both followed Roland around town who led them to a small tavern only to disappear in the back right after. Fortunately, the barkeep had been helpful and supplied them with a standard military issue first-aid kit, which made Levi much less reluctant to have his wound stitched.

Still, he didn’t expect the process be _this_ complicated; they had probably been at it for fifteen minutes now if not more.

“There,” Mikasa sighed.

“Finally,” he murmured.

“You’re welcome” she huffed.

It was Levi’s turn to sigh. “Sit down” he told her, his voice more of a request than an order. Fortunately, she complied without further comments on the matter.

At the small table, she chose the seat across him, which reflected the current mood in their partnership rather well.

“I apologize” he said, eyes momentarily closed. “I was wrong, I misjudged the situation.”

His apology seemed to have taken her by surprise - beside the confused look in her eyes, her silence was the easiest way to tell. After a few heavy moments, she nodded, and he could feel the tension lifting from his shoulders.

“Please be more careful next time.”

Levi tilted his slightly. That was rather soft for a reprimand.

The door leading to the back suddenly opened, revealing a familiar figure behind.

“You are growing too old for this, Levi” Greta teased. She walked straight to their table, her long legs carrying her in a surprisingly elegant stride. “I have something for you” she said, placing a medium-sized leather-bound tome on the table.

Levi flipped the cover open, taking one quick glance at the contents. “Did you read it?”

“Course I have” Greta huffed, as if wounded by the accusation of not peeking inside his private documents, seemingly unaware of the fact that it should’ve been the other way around.

“Cause of death?” Levi asked, eyes running through the pages.

“You aren’t asking the right questions” she chastised. “Is that _really_ what you should be asking now?”

He closed his eyes and sighed. _No_. “Was she pregnant?”

“Indeed she was.”


	10. Dead End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like always; thank you for the kudos and comments! Will answer each comment later, but I wanted to upload this chapter early in celebration of the new episode coming out today. I hope you are as excited for _that_ scene as I am... (Don't you dare screw us over, WIT...)

“You have to leave.”

He could feel the knife slipping from his fingers and the blade scraping over wood as his mind suddenly lost control over his motions.

“What the hell do you mean?” Levi asked, his gaze darkening.

“Exactly what I said” Greta stated calmly, wiping the corner of her mouth with a ragged tablecloth. “The two of you can’t stay here.”

“Can you elaborate?” Mikasa asked with her knife and fork still in hand, her arms suspended mid-air. She had only been picking at her food.

“See? She at least has manners,” Greta grinned, reaching for her glass of wine, “I like her already.”

“That’s rich coming from you” Levi huffed.

“I see that you are still just a _brat_ , Levi,” Greta chastised.

He saw Mikasa’s gaze turning towards him and he shot her a warning glare. D _on’t you even dare_.

Getting taunted by the two of them was something he would have very much liked to avoid.

“Anyway,” Greta continued, raising the glass to her lips, “You can’t return to Elysium.”

“Did something happen?” Mikasa asked, dedicating her attention fully to the other woman.

“Yes,” Greta replied, returning her gaze with her one good eye. “ _You_ happened.”

“Stop beating around the bush,” Levi growled. From the corner of his eye, he could see Mikasa’s seemingly unbothered expression faltering. “Just tell us what we need to know.”

Greta sighed, setting her glass back on the table. “You’ve grown careless, Levi. Did you think that people wouldn’t notice?” Her gaze travelled from Levi back to Mikasa. “You can come back here and wander the streets like you used to - and maybe if you’re careful enough, no one will notice, but you can’t hide _her_.”

She turned towards the bartender, fingers curled and inviting. He nodded and stepped out from behind the bar clutching a piece of paper already torn around the edges, taking his time to get to their table. Greta held out her hand and he unfolded the missive before placing it on top of her palm.

“What a masterpiece” she grimaced as she laid it carefully on the table.

Well. That explained a few things.

The drawings were a bit off, but accurate enough to get a reasonably good understanding of their outlook. Levi’s face was framed on the left, and next to him, a picture probably even more accurately depicting Mikasa.

It wasn’t a regular wanted poster.

It was a call for a blood hunt.

* * *

Mikasa stared in disbelief at the image reflecting her features as a grotesque mirror.

She had seen wanted posters before but none of them had been so intricate in detail. She couldn’t help the urge to reach out and trace the dry ink with her fingers.

“They came this morning” Greta hummed nonchalantly, turning her body sideways and crossing her legs in an effort to appear calm and uninterested.

“There is no seal” Mikasa murmured, noticing the lack of official authorization. “What is this?”

“A bloodwit” Levi said, pulling the poster closer.

“But if the government didn’t issue it…” Mikasa mused, “Then who did?”

“That’s what we need to find out” he replied; his voice somewhat strained. “I just didn’t think they’d be so quick to tie you in with all of this.”

“Really, Levi?” Greta snorted, drawing a glare from the Captain. “You thought the witnesses wouldn’t remember a girl like her? Personal preferences aside, she’s kinda hard to miss.”

Mikasa felt a sudden rush of embarrassment. She was used to compliments, she was even more used to people telling her how ‘special’ she looked, but this time, the words felt hot against her skin; unpleasant and searing.

She had learned to ignore the gawks and whispers, learned to take the compliments with a soft bow and a faint smile, but she could never learn to shake the blame. Just how many times did it have to happen again and again?

 “I told you: you are acting like a bloody child,” Greta continued, “You don’t belong here.”

Levi’s eyes narrowed. “Should I have murdered everyone in my path?” Levi growled, his fingers curling against the table, “Like _you_ would’ve done?”

“Yes.” The answer was quick and clear. “If you really wanted to protect her, that is…”

Mikasa’s eyes widened. She wasn’t sure when the conversation had taken such a different turn. Once again, there were so many things left unsaid and communicated only through wordless gestures that she couldn’t help but feel like an outsider, waiting in silence as the scene in front of her reached its climax.

“Astrid thought that the two of you must’ve eloped” Greta said,  her gaze locked on the Captain, “but I’m quite certain I know you better than that. So tell me, Levi… Why is she here?”

Levi sighed. “The Commander asked her to help me.”

“And you brought her here?”

“In contrast to where? My hands were tied, quite literally speaking.”

“ _Anywhere_.”

The silence stretched on for long seconds before Greta spoke again. “This place is a dead end and you should know that better than anyone. You can come here to hide from your problems, but that’s all there is to it.”

“Is that why you came back?” Levi retorted.

“I had my reasons” Greta answered calmly.

Mikasa felt that this conversation was just as much of a dead end as it didn’t seem to be getting them anywhere other than inciting long-forgotten personal grudges. “Greta” she spoke, finally taking initiative, “What do you think we should do?”

She looked at her, considering her question for a long moment before her gaze softened. “Get out and stop reacting. Start finding out what _really_ happened.”

“We need someone to trust. We can’t rely on the Corps for help,” Mikasa admitted.

“Well, lucky for you, unlike our short friend here, I’ve been building bridges instead of burning them” Greta chuckled. She reached into her jacket, fishing around an inner pocket before handing a small piece of paper to Mikasa.

“Start memorizing it” she instructed. “Once you get out, you will need it.”

“I don’t want to rain on your parade, _Throatcutter_ , but it seems to be a little late for that now, isn’t it?”

“You would do well to keep your mouth shut, brat. Count this as the last favour I’ll be willing to do to save your ass.” Once again, she waved towards the bartender. “I’m moving you to a safer place for now. Roland will get you there.” She leaned back in her chair, motioning towards the backdoor.

“Your generosity has me humbled” Levi replied, his voice taunting. He even added a theatrical little bow to top the gesture.

Mikasa finally decided that she had had enough. Standing from her seat, she grabbed Levi by his collar and yanked him to his feet. “The Captain is a bit verbally challenged, but he’s been trying to tell you that he’s thankful for the help.”

He was so surprised by her sudden take-over that he didn’t even flinch as she started dragging him away.

“Captain, huh?” Greta chuckled.

Before opening the door, Mikasa glanced back one last time. She could see that Greta was still looking at them with a telling grin. “I can see my future…” she started singing, her deep, raspy voice resonating strangely with the melody.

“Shut up” Levi growled and now it was his time to jerk Mikasa towards the door. “We’re leaving.”

* * *

The new room wasn’t nearly as accommodating as the previous one. It was quite small with only a bed and an old, dust-covered cabinet waiting inside. From the left wall, an even smaller windowless chamber opened, serving as a crowded little bathroom.

Mikasa instantly concluded that this time, the Captain would likely need to sleep under the bed if he didn’t wish to be trampled to death by a surprise midnight visit.

“Well… this is definitely not an improvement” she sighed as she spotted Levi tracing a finger against the old woodwork. Was he counting the speckles of dust already?

“You should’ve let me do the talking” he grumbled.

“Yes, I’m quite certain that she’d have loved to find us the finest room the city has to offer _after_ you called her a cold-blooded murderer.”

“There was no lie in that.”

Mikasa rolled her eyes. While she wasn’t ready to admit it out loud, the events of the day had been keeping her on edge. Things have been happening too fast, she barely had enough time to catch her breath between navigating through the underworld and trying to find the Schulz girl’s murderer.

She decided that she’s had enough for one day. Not even considering whether the Captain had anything else planned, she threw herself on the bed, legs propped against the frame. “I need a break” she stated.

“Boots” he growled.

“I’m past caring.”

She heard him huff, but refused to turn her gaze towards him.

“Move aside” he ordered.

Mikasa complied and scooted over, instantly assuming that she had accidentally placed herself in the way of the imminent dusting process.

She could feel his weight pressing against the mattress and when she turned her gaze, she found his form lying next to her, his eyes glued to the ceiling.

“Boots?” she asked.

“I’m past caring” he answered.

* * *

Where did he go wrong?

The answer seemed to elude him.

There was nothing he could’ve done when the officers from the MP appeared to take him in. In hindsight, it might’ve been a good idea to make his escape then and there, but with Erwin still caught up in a meeting, Levi thought it unwise to risk compromising the Scouts.

Things hadn’t made sense ever since.

And now, if all of that wasn’t enough, he had Mikasa’s life on the line too.

Maybe Greta was right.

Dragging her into this whole murder business was unfair to begin with. She already had people she needed to look out for.

Yet he couldn’t shake the thought that during the last two days, he had been feeling a lot easier than he should’ve been, given the circumstances. He had been, of course, worried about her safety, worried whether she could learn to adjust to this upside-down world, but still, he hadn’t - not even for a minute - felt pressed for time.

And maybe that was his mistake.

For how long had she been on his team now? It was around three years now, probably, but he had stubbornly stopped counting after the first one.

“Don’t you find it strange that we’ve achieved so little in the last few years?”

She must’ve been surprised by his question, because he felt her shifting next to him. They still had some distance between them, but if he wanted to be honest, they had probably never been this close to each other outside of training.

The fact that he felt so unbothered by her presence unsettled him.

“They always seemed to have the perfect excuse ready” she shrugged. “Armin said that we probably went along because – whether we acknowledged it or not – it also meant less danger for the people we care about.”

She was right. First, they cut down the support for expeditions and blamed it all on the need to redistribute resources. After that, they maximized the quota for new recruits, stating that other divisions were in a much greater need of manpower. Then came the ‘fetch quests’ - as many veterans came to call them; simple missions to quiet areas with singular focus on retrieving governmental assets, like official documents.

And it all sounded reasonable, because to survive, they needed to rebuild.

But after a while, it all became too stagnant, too forced to feel justified. And knowing Erwin, that was probably the moment he had started pulling on his carefully constructed strings, forcing the world to start moving once again.

“So, what do we know?” Levi mused.

“What was in the letter?” Mikasa asked.

“No idea” Levi shrugged. “She kept addressing her letters to me, but I’ve never read one.”

“Why you?”

“I served together with her brother. I guess it seemed less suspicious that way.”

“What was _he_ like?”

“The brother? If you want me to be honest, I don’t know much about him other than the fact that he sounded pretty much like Eren: average skills and big ambitions.”

From the corner of his eye, he glanced towards Mikasa, expecting a cold glare. Instead, she kept her gaze unmoved, staring at the cobweb-ridden ceiling exactly like he had been doing just a moment ago.

“He was only her half-brother, though…” Levi admitted. “His mother was the lord’s mistress; the boy didn’t even have the family name. He was the same age as Maria and they were close; grew up together, or so he said.”

“But shouldn’t it have been more likely for her to hold a grudge against the military, then?” Mikasa felt that it should’ve. At least, that’s what she would’ve felt.

“Maybe. Erwin met her once in the capital. He said she wanted to help, or maybe he just convinced her to. The letters started coming after that.”

“And you never opened them?”

“No.”

“Was she married?”

“Not as far as I know” he shrugged. “They kept referring to her as ‘Miss Schulz’. They didn’t say much more than that tough.”

“But she had an affair with someone” Mikasa mused, and after a second, she added: “because of the pills.”

“She _was_ an informant.”

“Do you think the Commander put her up to that?”

Truth to be told, he had been asking the same question for a while now. “I doubt it, but who knows?” He paused for a moment, considering the situation. “As far as we can tell, she probably got pregnant, tried to blackmail someone and it backfired.”

“No” Mikasa replied a little too quickly and with a bit too much enthusiasm.

He could feel her moving and suddenly, she was leaning over him, her eyes traversing the room with strange intensity. Then before he knew it, she crawled – or rather, jumped – over him, landing deftly on her feet. She moved towards the old cabinet and reached forward to grab the leather-bound journal Levi had left there before.

She quickly untangled the thread holding the cover and flicked through the pages.

“There” she exclaimed. “We know she hasn’t been around, so she probably ran out of supplies at the wrong time. That, or she simply forgot to take precautions, or maybe it was actually a part of her plan, but look…” She stepped closer, pointing at a certain line in the report so Levi could read it.

“Fuck” he growled.

“Her pregnancy was still in an early stage” she explained, “It’s unlikely that even her, let alone anyone else knew about it.”

That was more than enough to render his carefully constructed explanation meaningless.

_Then why?_

The question seemed to hang in the air for the next few minutes.


	11. Fall, Fell, Fallen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 12 will be the one to finally close down Act 1. Hang on tight for future updates! Feel free to share yout opinion and thoughts about the story so far!

He didn’t notice her falling asleep but as soon as he realized that she shad dozed off, he couldn’t stop himself from glancing towards her peacefully slumbering form every now and then.

He found it a little strange, realizing that throughout all those seemingly never-ending months of training, they had never before fallen asleep in each other’s company.

He had to admit, it had mostly been his fault, if one could ever call it that.

Levi, after all, had always been careful to maintain a healthy distance from all personnel under his command; once for respect, twice for the safety of others and three times for his own. Growing up, he had grown accustomed to people appearing in his life only to disappear a fleeting moment later. Compared to that, however, the life of a soldier seemed even more ephemeral and it was a fact he needed to accept before learning to carry the burden of command.

Turning a page in the journal, he cast his gaze towards the girl one more time, trying to find a resolution to the mystery she had become in his life.

Mikasa Ackerman.

He could never forget the first time he had met her; her eyes bore into his with such intensity that for a moment, Levi found himself questioning whether Eren’s titanizing ability had truly been the greatest concern he needed to worry about.

Back then, she had been nothing but an impulsive brat, a wild animal ready to bite the hand as soon as the tables have turned. But even then, he could see something inside her, something he couldn’t quite understand. Sometimes, he had found himself wondering whether he had come to find his own reflection staring back at him from behind those fathomless eyes.

Sometimes, he felt he still couldn’t quite decide.

But time was a force like no other in existence.

He had watched as she grew older, smarter and maybe wiser, taking a curious interest in her above everyone else placed under his wings.

He was aware that Eren would always pick a spoon over a fork because he felt that it was less of a hassle and that Armin would always dust a seat first before sitting down on it. He was there when Jean received his first kiss and when Connie ended up so wasted that he asked Hange to dance. Among many things, he knew how Sasha always preferred roasted potatoes over boiled ones and eggs sunny side up over having them hard boiled.

And yet, Mikasa still managed to remain a mystery to him.

She stirred, still unaware of the world around her as she tilted her face a bit back towards the light, shadows dancing on her pale skin. There was a stray strand of hair falling over her eye and Levi had to fight the urge to reach out and gently brush it behind her ear.

It was a strange feeling, one that he was not accustomed to - and to fight it, he tightened his hold on the ink-smeared pages filled with Hange’s slap-dash handwriting.

Under the cover of darkness, illuminated by the smell and faint glow of burning oil and lulled by the sound of Mikasa’s quiescent breathing, Levi felt at peace.

* * *

She didn’t remember dozing off. She woke to a chill shaking her from sleep and when her eyelids fluttered, a warm, reassuring light greeted her.

Her thoughts were still hazy.

 “Rise and shine, sleepy head” she heard a familiar voice calling.

She pushed herself from the bed, leaning on her elbow for support as she looked around the room, unsure of whether she could recognize her surroundings. Brushing the hair from her face, she blinked at the Captain. He was sitting next to her with a book in his hand, trying to decipher its contents with only the glow of a small oil lamp guiding him.

“How long was I asleep?” she murmured, trying to rub the drowsiness from her eyes.

“No more than two hours, I think” Levi answered while he turned his gaze towards her, slowly closing the journal and placing it next to the lamp. “There’s no rush; we’re not in a hurry. Not yet, at least.”

“Have you learned anything new?” Mikasa asked, trying to fight off the urge to yawn and stretch.

“Nothing of importance” he admitted a little begrudgingly.

“What are we going to do?”

Greta had warned them that they couldn’t stay for much longer; meaning that this momentary respite inside this abandoned little room was nothing but an illusion. She shouldn’t even have fallen asleep in the first place; it was not wise and it was definitely not safe. But somehow, she had felt calm and at ease and before she knew it, she found herself claimed by a deep, dreamless slumber.

Or maybe, that wasn’t entirely the case.

She could feel a faint tug pulling at her thoughts, whiffs of memories drifting along the edges of her consciousness.

What had she been dreaming about? She couldn’t quite recall.

She stole a quick glance at the Captain and found his eyes still studying her.

Her heart started beating faster, urging her blood to rush forward and spread a strange yet familiar sense of warmth across her body.

“Mikasa” he called, his voice quiet but his gaze sharp. “Why did you leave the scarf behind?”

She opened her mouth to speak, her fingers once again reaching instinctively towards her neck to find only a painfully empty void where she hoped to find a comforting touch.

“It was advisable…” she spoke, shifting uncomfortably and quickly escaping his gaze.

“Yes, you already said something like that” he interrupted, his voice still quiet and calm. “At least you’re not outright lying right now… unlike last time.”

Her fingers curled against the coarse linen of the bedsheet.

“I’m sorry” Mikasa apologized. If there was someone who did not deserve to be lied to, it was _him_.

“Are you?” he inquired. He seemed neither angry nor upset, but somehow his impassiveness only served to worsen her guilt.

“After the last expedition, I…” she tried explaining but found that voicing the thoughts that plagued her was harder than expected. “Eren and I have come to disagree about certain things. This has been an on-going issue for a while now.”

She sighed and from the corner of her eyes, saw Levi nodding. Had he noticed? Why hadn’t he said anything before?

“After hearing about my concerns, Hange suggested that I take a step back and… re-evaluate.”

Levi huffed. “That sounds exactly like something she would say.”

That was the only thought he chose to offer on the matter. Mikasa waited patiently for him to continue, to share his observations, but he remained silent and she wasn’t ready to ask.

They remained like that for a minute or so, both of them caught up in their own thoughts.

Then suddenly, Mikasa heard footsteps approaching and she could already see Levi straightening up and jumping to position behind the door.

* * *

Three knocks.

Then one.

Two more.

Levi relaxed his shoulders as he stepped closer. Not wanting to risk anything, he signalled Mikasa to keep her guard up as he moved to turn the key in the lock.

“We need to talk” Roland wheezed, hauling two large sacks over his shoulders as the door opened to allow him passage. Something metallic clinked inside them as he tossed them to the floor once he has managed to push past Levi.

“What’s going on?” Mikasa asked, her posture still stiff and her expression suspicious. Suddenly, she yanked her head towards the window, trying to gauge noises Levi himself couldn’t quite hear.

“We have a little issue here” Roland sighed, peeling the straps of his rifle from his back and tossing the weapon to the bed. “But most importantly: you two need to leave.”

“Now?!” Levi grumbled, crossing his arms. “We aren’t really equipped for a breakout right now.”

Roland’s eyebrow shot upwards and he waved towards the bags with an obviously irritated gesture. “What the hell do you think I’ve been dragging those here for?!”

Turning his attention towards the baggage, Levi crouched down to untie the thin strap of thread holding the mouth of the first sack closed.

“Wow…” he whistled, “you’ve actually been useful for a change.”

Rolling his eyes, the boy turned his attention towards Mikasa, his expression now thwarted into a grimace. “How the hell do you put up with that guy?”

“I don’t” Mikasa answered with a frown, prompting an irritated huff from Levi.

“Aren’t the two of you supposed to be together or something?”

“Who told you that?” Levi asked - tone cynical - while he busied himself clipping the harness onto his body.

“Astrid” Roland shrugged. “And Greta. She started singing that song too, the one with the eyes and stuff…”

“I know.” It was Levi’s turn to roll his eyes.

“What song?” Mikasa asked stepping next to him and reaching into the second bag before starting to get into gear.

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the streets outside and Roland suddenly jumped back to his feet. “You might want to hurry it up…”

“Fuck” Levi hissed, tightening the belt around his waist. “Do you mind telling us what the hell is going on?” As he turned to face Mikasa, he saw that she was still lagging behind, fiddling with her hair. “I told you a thousand times to cut the damn thing” he growled as he grabbed her by the hips and yanked her forward, forcing her to face him as he reached for the harness that ran through her shoulders before pulling it hard to make sure that its hold was tight enough.

She wanted to protest but he wasn’t having any of it; one look from him was enough to silence her – and maybe enough to draw colour to her cheeks, but in this lightning, he couldn’t be quite so certain about that.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Roland’s mouth falling open. He had no patience left for his shenanigans either and he didn’t hesitate to let him know. “Can it” he ordered, his voice stern. The kid was no soldier, but the way he snapped to attention at his command would’ve put any veteran to shame.

He had no idea what awaited them outside, but he wanted to be ready for it this time.

* * *

“Go to the old mines” Roland instructed them as they left the building behind. “You still have the directions she has given you earlier, right?”

Mikasa nodded.

“Alright then. Just head to the old silver mine and then…” the boy continued, but whatever he had been planning to say next became cut off by the sound of a gunshot going off nearby.

“I’m going to ask you one last time,” she heard Levi saying, “what the hell is going on here?”

“Just a… little bit of territorial dispute” Roland explained, grimacing.

“Then why are you sending us away now?” Mikasa asked, frowning in confusion. “Shouldn’t we stay and help?”

“I asked the same thing, to be honest, but” he trailed off, his gaze falling on Levi, “they’re actually here for you guys.”

“All the more reason for us to help get this cleared up” Mikasa insisted, her confidence only growing as she felt the reassuring weight of the 3DMG pulling against her sides.

“No.”

Her eyes grew wide in surprise as she turned towards the Captain.

“Your heard me” Levi said. “This is no longer about you or me. Those guys have openly invaded this area. This means war.”

Roland reached up to rub the back of his head but nodded anyway. “Something like that. Besides, I have a feeling that things are going to get complicated. Someone has been blowing the whistle up northwest and it seems that the military presence in Phlege has doubled in the last two hours.”

Mikasa glanced towards Levi and saw his eyes narrowing. “Normally, that would give us all the time we need, but…”

“Oh yes” Roland agreed, although Mikasa wasn’t even sure what the question had been. “With all the upheaval, they will be circling through north to the east, which means you are bound to run into them unless you hurry the fuck up.”

Levi gritted his teeth. “Mikasa” he called to her. “We’re going.”

Her eyes darted to Roland and back to Levi. “Yes, sir!” she breathed after a momentary hesitation. She reminded herself that she needed to trust his decision in this situation. Grabbing the controllers, she readied herself to follow as soon as the Captain took off.

“One more thing” Roland warned. “Make sure to check on Astrid first. She has something for you.”

Levi nodded and Mikasa followed suit. “Thank you” she whispered before turning away and launching a hook towards the nearest building.

He bowed a little and presented them with an overdramatic little courtsey as they flew off. For the first time, she felt that his smile had been honest as he watched them ascend into the air and disappear into the darkness.

* * *

Saving gas and going on foot wasn’t really an option.

Levi needed to think fast and smart about their situation. Normally, the MPs would’ve made their way through the west end entered from the south, but if the boy’s intel was truly correct, they had little time to waste.

He knew that as long as they were airborne, there was no need for him to worry about Mikasa. She had been zigzagging behind him expertly, keeping up with his pace while avoiding sticking too close to him at the same time.

_Smart girl_ , he thought to himself before turning his gaze back towards the buildings flying by below. Underground thugs weren’t exactly trained snipers, but this place had the curious and unnerving ability to draw the weirdest creatures together.

Waving at her, he signalled her to slow down as they descended to a seemingly abandoned back-alley, right next to Elysium’s not-so-frequented backdoor. As his fingers reached out to grip the door handle, he suddenly heard the sounds of furniture crashing and glass breaking. Normally, one would’ve simply assumed that it was just the crowd trashing the party at the busiest hour of the evening, but Levi’s instincts convinced him to keep his wits about him.

He hadn’t even noticed how there had been no music echoing through the walls before he entered the building, and now he could only hear hurried footsteps and startled gasps as quickly made his way towards the salon.

“Fucking unbelievable” he heard a woman cursing.

He flinched at the smell of tobacco smoke as he pushed the loose, ages-old door open.

He couldn’t say that the sight took him by surprise, but still, he found a sense of uncanny nostalgia washing over him as he surveyed his surroundings: the floor was littered with bodies and he noticed most of the working girls and boys reloading small, easily concealable handguns or wiping blood from the blade of a knife or a dagger.

“Welcome to the fucking party” Astrid sighed, throwing herself on an empty couch before conjuring up a lighter from her cleavage and lighting a cigar on fire.

 “Too bad we’re already late,” Levi responded, carefully repositioning the head of a particularly gruesome gunshot victim with his foot.

“I could be talked into forgiving you for trashing up the place one last time” she chuckled, her slender fingers elegantly curling around the engraved lighter.

“Don’t even try to blame this mess on me” Levi growled.

“Be a good sport and humour me” she shrugged. “For old time’s sake.”

“What do you want?” he sighed, his anger all but evaporated in the moment he had caught sight of the slight trembling of her hand.

“Just a promise” she smiled weakly, raising the cigar to her mouth.

“Haven’t I told you already to lose that shit?” he lectured her before stepping forward and snatching the roll of smoking death from her hand, extinguishing the smouldering embers with a quick swipe against the armrest. “I will tell them to double the dose” he said, voice quiet, before turning away and leading Mikasa back towards the other end of the building.

* * *

Deciding not to pry about his past, Mikasa followed Levi around the city at a comfortable pace, flying over hovels and downtrodden buildings as they made their way towards the north.

The change in scenery below was hard to miss.

“Is this the place you warned me about?” Mikasa inquired, falling in line with the Captain for a moment as she posed her question.

“They call it Acheron” he explained, his eyes carefully surveying the city below. “No such thing as order exists here. The strong prey on the weak - until they too get swallowed up by this never-ending cycle built on hatred and misery.”

Seemingly out of nowhere, a hook flew by her left side taking Mikasa completely by surprise. She swirled around, trying to get a good look on her opponent before pulling her blade on them.

“Relax” Greta chuckled as she closed in on them, adeptly manoeuvring her body into the small space between Mikasa and Levi. “Or maybe, you are already too relaxed if I could manage to sneak up on you stray kittens like that.”

While she wasn’t actually reprimanding them, Mikasa felt embarrassed at her words. She was quite obviously right.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Levi groaned as he swung to the right, breaking their tightly knit formation into a looser one.

“I’m a gracious host, of course,” Greta teased. “Did you think I would let you leave without seeing you off first?”

“Wouldn’t have been the first time” Levi growled under his breath, his voice barely audible.

“Mikasa” Greta called, turning her attention towards her. “Do you have the directions memorized?”

“Not yet” she admitted sheepishly. She really shouldn’t have fallen asleep.

“Then keep my instructions close at hand” the woman ordered, her one eye boring into hers. “Levi can get you to the mines but beyond that, he will be just as clueless.”

“Understood,” Mikasa nodded with the well-practised obedience of a soldier. The gesture seemed to have amused to older woman.

They had no more time for conversation, however.

Levi was the first to notice the flanking attempt coming from the left. Quickly drawing his blades, he fired a hook towards their attackers, letting the wire take care of the first careless soul charging into the fray head-on.

Mikasa followed suit, following Levi’s strategy of confronting their pursuers instead of trying to lose them on the bustling streets below.

To her surprise, Greta wasn’t far behind. She wielded the military-issue steel with the confidence of a battle-worn veteran, angling her cuts with such precision that Mikasa no longer felt the need to wonder where she had gotten the name _‘throatcutter’_ from.

“Keep your wits about you, Mikasa” she said, gritting her teeth in exertion as she executed a sharp turn to carry out a lightning-fast attack against one of their attackers. “This is the endgame here.”

Mikasa’s eyes narrowed.

This was still far from over, but if they could just make their way back to the surface, things would finally take a different turn.

A bullet flew past her, almost grazing her arm.

“Fuck” she growled, spinning around and trying to dive towards the direction she had suspected the attack from.

“Mikasa” she heard the Captain calling out towards her, his voice distant across the several crumbling old buildings separating them. “Leave it and get going.”

“We will meet your there” she heard Greta shouting and she felt a tug on her arm, yanking her back towards their original direction quickly and without much effort.

“We can’t leave without him” she protested.

“Don’t sweat it” Greta replied, her voice now sombre and her sole eye focused on the path ahead of them. “He knows the way already. You don’t.”

Mikasa glanced behind only to catch Levi’s form disappearing behind a stone pillar.

She felt a pull at her chest, as if an invisible hand had taken hold of her heart.

She was already too familiar with this painful sensation.

* * *

The old mining town was abandoned, true to its name. Levi would’ve been happy never to set foot in this accursed place again.

Flying below worm-holed rickety bridges and crumbling scaffoldings, Levi made his way towards the mines.

Suddenly, he noticed a glimmer in the distance and managed to swing to the left just as the explosion went off, launching the bullet into the air. He avoided the first shot by landing on a the beams of a crumbling roof, but had to quickly press on as the second projectile crashed right next to his head, sending splinters flying into the dust-ridden air.

The only available target to latch onto was the platform ahead of him close to the undisturbed quarry pond and he was afraid whether he could make it in time.

Third time is the charm, he thought bitterly before launching himself forward.

His muscles jerked as he felt searing pain rushing from his side.

Fuck. He was going to miss.

The left hook flew past the beams and connected to nothing. He could hear the wires whizzing, the engine straining to coil the wire from his unattached right hook backwards, but it was too late to aim his next shot.

He saw only darkness above as he lost control over his body.


	12. Breaking Point

The water’s embrace was cold and cruel; it felt as if a dozen arms latched onto him with hungry, relentless grip, pulling him deeper and deeper below the pitch black surface.

The collision pushed all air from his chest and left his lungs burning as his body struggled against its natural instinct to draw breath. There was no up or down, no above or below in this crushing prison that threatened to undo him as he searched for a way out desperately.

As he sank towards the abyss, Levi felt a thick, unshakeable darkness taking hold of him.

Was this how his people felt in their last moments?

Was this untameable terror their last memory before leaving this world forever?

It was cruel, indeed.

Would it have all been easier if he had just given up?

Was there any other option left for him?

* * *

The last and the first thing he remembered was pain – searing, white-hot pain burning through his lungs, his chest – his very essence.

Like an old ragdoll tossed into the dirt, he had no control of his actions; his body moved on its own accord as he felt an invisible force tugging on his insides, barely giving him enough time to try and pull himself up as he felt all things inside him gush forward, leaving him once again breathless as his muscles struggled to squeeze him dry of inhaled water and vomit.

He had no control of his body, but he could tell that at least someone else had: even with his mind clouded, he could faintly feel their hold on him, arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders and waist as they pulled him backwards to help him lay down on the cold wet ground.

* * *

Greta watched in silence as Mikasa tugged Levi’s lifeless body to shore while she descended from the railings, the blood of her last opponent still fresh on her blade.

“Too late,” she whispered to herself, stopping a few good steps from where his body lay.

She didn’t need two eyes to see how his body offered no resistance as the girl tossed him to the ground, dropping down right next to him in a desperate hurry.

In a world with barely enough water to drink, drowning seemed like the most surreal sort of death.

But like all death, it was cruel, stupid and meaningless.

_Just like all the others_ , she reminded herself, but the lump in her throat wouldn’t disappear.

“Stupid little brat,” she murmured, teeth gritted tightly to keep grief from spilling. She had learned a long time ago that mourning was a luxury someone in her position couldn’t afford.

Mikasa, on the other hand, said nothing as she leaned above him, motions quick and confident as she tore his shirt open.

“Oi, kid,” Greta hissed. “Stop that.”

Wasn’t she a soldier? She should’ve learned to accept death by now.

But she didn’t seem to care. With hands atop each other, she pressed down on his chest forcefully; first once, then twice, steadily repeating the action with her features frozen in an emotionless expression.

And then, as if she had finally grown tired and ready to accept the cards fate dealt to her, she stopped. She let her head fall, warm lips touching cold, lifeless ones.

“Fuck. Don’t make me cry, ya hear me?” Greta’s voice was barely a whisper. She didn’t need to see this. She didn’t need to see to know.

She hated tragedies.

And then she heard a cough, and saw that Mikasa was fast as lightning hauling Levi up and turning him to his side as his head fell forward while he emptied the contents of his stomach onto the algae-covered stonework.

* * *

One. Two. Three.

The numbers in her head sounded like dull echoes, but she kept going, just like she had been taught to do.

It wasn’t working. She pressed down harder. A few broken ribs were certainly preferable over death.

She felt the motions coming to her without thinking. She feared that if she allowed her thoughts to wander now she might’ve quickly become undone by despair.

She couldn’t let him die, after all.

Even just the thought scared her terribly.

So she pressed on, murmuring the numbers monotonously as some sort of a mantra to keep herself grounded as she now fought harder than ever to save a life instead of taking it.

Pinching his nose shut, she leaned forward to plant her lips on his, still choosing to ignore the rest of the world around them. It didn’t matter what happened out there because for these painful few moments, her universe only extended as far as her hands could reach.

Finally, she felt him react and she quickly pulled back, stabilizing him as the obstructing water poured out of his lungs.

“It’s alright,” she whispered, “I’ve got you.”

* * *

_Miracles do not exist,_ she often told herself. _Not in this world of darkness, at least._

A kiss of life? It sounded too beautiful to be true.

And yet…

“Mikasa,” Greta spoke, her lone eye resting on the boy. “You need to get him out of here.”

As if woken from a daze, the girl reached towards her pocket, the surprised glimmer in her eyes suddenly turning into a wide-eyed expression of fright. “Your… your instructions”, she stammered, fishing a soaked piece of paper out of her jacket.

“How many times have you looked at it?” Greta asked calmly.

“Once” Mikasa admitted sheepishly.

“Right, middle, right, middle, right middle” the older woman explained. “Three times the riddle.”

The girl looked at her with the innocent recognition of a child.

In the distance, someone shouted.

“You have to go now” Greta warned, raising her blades into the air, shaking them clear of the blood already been spilled.

“No” Mikasa objected with a stubborn expression. “I won’t leave you to clean our mess.”

“So you will leave him instead?”

The choice was clear, Greta knew that, but she appreciated the concern. It even made her smile a little.

“During my life, I’ve seen the same story repeating itself; the same old thing, over and over again,” she paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. “I tried to break away from it, but for me, it was too late. But somehow, _he_ made it… And I want to believe that it was all for a reason.”

Turning her back towards them and taking a battle stance, Greta continued: “Show me that there is a way out of this hell – the one below and above. Break this never-ending cycle of misery. That is the favour you owe me.”

And after another short pause, she added: “Do you understand, Levi?”

“I don’t need you to tell me.”

His voice was raspy and weak, but the bite in it definitely belonged to him-

“Lying cradled in a woman’s arms while others fight… You’ve grown soft, brat,” she teased, glancing behind her shoulder. His eyes were on her and she returned his gaze. He understood. He always had.

“Mikasa, one last thing” she spoke, tightening her grip on the hilt. “Once you get out of here, ask him about his family.”

And with that, Greta launched herself towards the roof.

Somehow, it all felt bittersweetly nostalgic; after all, it had been a while since she earned her name. It seemed that some people have forgotten who she was and that wasn’t something she could just let slip.

She needed to remind them.

She needed to remind herself.

_No regrets, huh?_


	13. Reprieve

The old, sleazy quilt with its fading colours gave him little warmth on that cold, misty afternoon. With his back propped against the rickety framework of the small bed, Levi turned his gaze towards the smouldering embers glowing in the tiny, crumbling fireplace.

He heard footsteps nearing the cabin and his head involuntarily snapped to attention, his muscles tensing. The sudden motion allowed the dull ache in his chest to grow into an alarming sensation of pain as he quickly pushed himself upwards, throwing his legs over the mattress without care for his weakened state.

The door opened without warning, allowing a gust of cold air to escape into the room.

“You should’ve knocked,” Levi grumbled, letting his behind fall back on the bed as soon as his eyes caught sight of the familiar figure passing through the doorframe.

“I thought you were still asleep,” Mikasa concluded, her tone distant and matter-of-fact.

He raised an eyebrow at her claim. He had been up since morning and it hadn’t even been an hour since she left to gather more firewood to dry.

“We need to talk,” he concluded after almost a whole minute of heavy silence with Mikasa pretending to keep herself busy re-piling the dwindling stack of firewood in the corner.

She did not look at him as she voiced her quiet reply. “You need to rest.”

“Pot calling the kettle black,” Levi murmured. “Unlike you, I at least have managed to catch a few hours of sleep.” There was worry in his voice and he no longer bothered trying to hide it. Mikasa had been up ever since their escape underground and while it had already been late into the night by the time they had reached the hunting cabin, she had shown no interest in stopping ever since.

“I need to make sure that we aren’t being followed,” she explained, finally ready to return his gaze.

“I think that excuse kinda stopped being valid after the first few hours.” There was something she was trying to avoid and he needed to know what it really was. “Mikasa,” he sighed, “sit down.” Scooting closer to the wall to give her space, he nodded towards the other side of the bed.

She glanced around, probably looking for an escape, but unfortunately – or fortunately - there was no other place to sit in the small, dilapidated room.

Hesitantly, she moved towards him and lowered herself slowly on the bed, her feet still firmly planted on the ground. It was hard for him to look into her eyes in this position but he decided to not press the issue any further now.

“Thank you, Mikasa.”

He could hear the pitter-patter of raindrops starting outside as he waited for her to acknowledge his words.

“No need to thank me,” she whispered, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“I still want to.”

There was something about the way she avoided looking at him. He didn’t understand why it bothered him so much, but it definitely did. It felt like she had closed herself off and while it wasn’t the first time she had distanced herself from him, Levi had never before found it so hard to turn a blind eye to her.

“What’s bothering you?” he asked, trying to finally decide whether forcing her to open up would truly be the right course of action.

“I’m tired,” she replied with little hesitation. His eyes narrowed.

“You should sleep, then,” he stated bluntly.

“You have to rest, first,” she insisted, fingers fidgeting with the crude fabric of the sheets.

“I already have,” he pressed.

“But not enough,” came her riposte.

This argument was pointless. She wasn’t willing to budge.

“You’re slow,” he stated calmly, drawing her attention. She looked at him, confused, only to be knocked over in the next second as his leg wrapped around her waist while a hand pulled on her arm.

It was a clumsy situation, especially because neither of them was willing to turn it into a fight. She stared at him, wide-eyed, but allowed herself to be pulled in regardless.

Physical proximity had never been an issue for them; they had both dutifully accepted that their position sometimes required them to forget about decorum and personal space, especially during training, but this was something completely different.

This was intimacy.

Instead of pushing him away, he could feel her grabbing onto him, sinking her fingers deep into his arms as if she was afraid to let go.

And whatever need drove her to do so, he felt it too.

“I thought you were going to die,” she whispered, her soft voice barely audible. “I was so scared.”

“I was terrified,” he admitted quietly, still afraid to let those accursed words be spoken. In the dim afternoon light dulled by the grey rainclouds, he could see the glimmer of tears in Mikasa’s eyes as he lowered his gaze to meet hers.

“Why didn’t you unclasp your gear?” she murmured with a hint of anger in her voice, tearing her eyes from him.

“I panicked,” he said, swallowing hard. “I can’t swim.”

She gave him a furious glare and then her gaze suddenly softened. It was the truth.

“But what about the compulsory swimming lessons?” she asked, curiosity taking over.

“I have never received formal training…”

She opened her mouth to speak but no words came. Instead, her legs kicked out under the kilt, leading to a painful encounter between his shins and her knee.

“Mikasa,” he hissed. He wasn’t prepared for physical retaliation.

She refused to comment. She shifted again but this time, he was quicker. Grabbing her wrist and pinning her leg down with his own, he rested his chin on the top of her head as he pulled her closer to force her on the defence. “Just give me a break, will you?” Levi sighed, relieved when he felt her body stilling beside his.

“What are we going to do?” she asked after a long silence.

“Get this mess sorted out. Find the source. I’m done letting those greedy egotistic pigs fuck up other people’s life.”

“Do you think there’s money behind all this?” she asked with genuine concern.

“Be it land, heritage or influence, it always leads back to that.”

Just the thought of it made him feel sick but it least it reminded him something else too, something he had chosen never to speak about again. But maybe, after all that had happened, it was time for him to move past that.

“I grew up there, in the Underground” he started, thoughts trailing back to memories that he had long banished to the deepest levels of his mind. “If it wasn’t for Erwin, though, I’d probably still be running from one dead-end to the other down there.” He paused for a moment, weighing his thoughts before continuing. “And if it wasn’t for that bastard Lobov, _they_ might still be alive, running there with me.”

* * *

 

Mikasa listened as Levi talked, finding comfort as much in his closeness as his words until the pale afternoon glow turned into darkness.

She couldn’t remember when the rain had stopped or when the last fading ember turned into smoke but by the time silence had fallen on them, it was already night outside with barely a shimmer of moonlight illuminating the room.

“It must be getting cold,” she mused, her nose almost touching the naked skin of his shoulder.

“Must be.”

It had been a while since he had stopped talking and for a moment she had even assumed that he had fallen asleep - right until he had opened his mouth again earlier to offer an unsolicited comment about the filthiness of their surroundings.

Finally deciding to give in to the aching of hunger eating at her stomach, Mikasa pushed herself away from the heat of Levi’s body, shivering slightly as the cold air of the room brushed up against her skin.

He did not ask where she was headed.

Fumbling around the pile of firewood for the driest log to use, she tried to use the momentary silence to come up with some sort of conclusion to their current situation.

Somehow, her chest felt lighter after her confession. The image of his unmoving pale face, soaked dark hair and lifeless white lips still tugged at her heartstrings, but reliving the memory had become much more bearable after admitting how terrified she had felt and how much it had weighed on her ever since.

They still had a lot to do, that much she was aware of. Yet still, she somehow found the thought calming, as it allowed her even more time to sort out all the confusion she wasn’t ready to face or admit to herself just yet.

_Later_ , she promised.

* * *

 

“Aren’t you going to ask?” Levi mused, tearing the last piece of cold rabbit meat from the bone.

“Ask about what?” Mikasa replied, setting her empty plate on the small table.

“About family.”

Food was scarce but enough to carry them through the night and maybe even the next few days. While Mikasa insisted that Levi should rest more before heading out into the wilderness, he adamantly argued that he was well enough to move and leave the cabin behind for good.

Besides, he was convinced that it was a sorry excuse for a hiding place; an old safe-house set up by Greta to ensure safe passage between the forest and the caverns if needed. If there were any smugglers using the path these days, Levi saw no signs of them.

“If you don’t want to talk about it…” she replied, voice calm and suspiciously accommodating.

“Can we please skip the game this time?” he interrupted. With Greta’s stupid warning or advice or whatever hanging in the air, Levi was itching to get it over with.

“Alright,” Mikasa nodded, wiping her hands clean on a moth-eaten washcloth.

He waved at her to lend the rag to him and she passed it on her way to collect his plate. She didn’t seem affected by the same tension that had been eating at him and this only served to frustrate him even more.

“Kenny Ackerman was my uncle.”

Mikasa nodded again, collecting the bones into an old, rust-eaten bucket while Levi kept speaking, telling her all that he had managed to gather from Kenny’s final ramblings.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?” he asked eventually, standing from the bed and walking to the fireplace, trying to force Mikasa to look at him and finally stop poking at the ashes.

She shrugged, still refusing to meet his eyes. “My father never talked much about his family.”

“Mikasa” Levi sighed. “This is important.”

She glanced up at him with a curious gaze. “That’s why you waited all this time to bring it up?”

He threw his hands into the air defensively. “It’s not easy for me to talk about this, alright?”

She considered him for a moment before finally deciding to stand up. “Levi…” she started but decided to rephrase her words just a moment later. “Are you trying to tell me that you want us to treat each other as family from now on?”

He found her words hitting harder than he would’ve expected otherwise. He considered his answer for a moment before shaking his head. “No, Mikasa” he stated, eyes narrowing. “We are not family.”

“Good” was her only answer.

It was what he wanted, yet he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of disappointment. “Is that all, then?” he asked.

“You are a man who shares the same name as I do. You’re not my long-lost cousin. My family is dead, and so is yours. Our name has never defined our relationship and I don’t want it to start now.”

There was something in her eyes that made him pause. Suddenly, he felt like an idiot for doubting her even just for a second. “You’re right” he sighed, lips curling into a small smirk. But then he looked at her and saw that her eyes had grown wide, as if she had just realized something important herself.

“I… can’t… I just…” she mumbled.

“Let’s call it a night, shall we?” he prompted, offering her the easy way out. She took it without hesitation, not even bothering to protest.

He wasn't ready for what needed to follow and neither was she.


	14. Square One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I'd like to thank all of you for your continued support! This story will still continue, although at this point I can make no exact promises about update times. Honestly, I'm still quite unhappy about the previous chapter, somehow it just doesn't really sit right with me. I've been glaring at it for an infuriatingly long time, always torn between quickly editing a few things over or completely rewriting it. Eventually, I just decided to leave things as they are for now and move on. It's been a while, so you might've forgotten a little bit about the (not so) recently departed Maria Schulz - but fear not, here's the part where the plot reminds us all that it still exists. While this chapter is definitely not long, I hope you will enjoy it regardless. I wish you all the best!

Mikasa couldn’t quite recall the last time she had been allowed to watch the sun rise in perfect silence and serenity. She stepped forward, moving just a little bit closer to the edge of the small hilltop.

And then, the birds started to sing.

The sight of the peaceful little valley below felt almost painfully nostalgic.

“Breathe in, breathe out,” Mikasa whispered to herself, shutting her eyes and slowly unclenching her tightly curled fingers. “Breathe in, breathe out.”

It was a new day.

Her lashes fluttered as she slowly opened her eyes.

It was a beautiful day.

 

* * *

 

She made her way back towards the cabin on a different path, one that led her farther into the woods. Keeping her mission in mind, she kept her pace comfortable and her tracks light as she circled a small clearing before turning her steps back towards the south.

Her mind was now clear but her doubts still lingered.

“Mariastra.”

To her, it was a simple word with little meaning but she remembered it well from Greta’s little note of instructions - this was the one thing she could recall with certainty. Yet again, it was just a phrase without direction or context; just another unfamiliar thing that could as well have turned out to be a person, a place or a riddle.

Unfortunately, Levi hadn’t been any wiser at unfolding the mystery. Mikasa quietly recalled how frustrated he looked once his infamous ‘street smarts’ had failed him yet again.

Suddenly, she stopped.

Someone was out there.

Her eyes narrowed and her muscles tensed as the world around her seemed to disappear for a moment.

Movement; fast and erratic, rushing through the wet grass while crunching leaves and branches.

Immediately, Mikasa’s hand darted to her right where she kept a lone knife strapped to her thigh. With her weapon drawn in an instant and the blade ready at hand, she quickly crouched down to blend her form into the thick undergrowth.

A moment passed.

Then two.

She held her breath long before slowly letting it go.

They – whoever they were - had changed directions - she could hear the erratic footsteps climbing farther away with every second.

Clarity descended on her and she could feel her heartbeat finally calming. Dogs – probably a whole pack. It was the worst news possible.

Carefully rising from her position, she holstered her weapon before continuing on her path with renewed speed and purpose.

 

* * *

 

It was a bit too cold outside for his tastes, with droplets of early morning dew hanging from the trees and bushes. The grass was still wet, making it harder for him to complete his routine stretches in his injured state.

“Fuckin’ peachy,” Levi grunted as he straightened from a simple side stretch. His body still ached but at least it was now willing to comply with his wishes. “Back to square one,” he sighed, murmuring to himself.

This mess was lot more than what he had bargained for when he agreed to get involved with Erwin’s stupid little plan.

Johann Fuchs never would’ve wanted this for his sister. Period.

Crouching down for a few more leg stretches, Levi tried hard to recall the fading memories of the tall, lanky young man with a sleazy patch of facial hair extending just below his chin: the story of the unwanted bastard child; Levi had heard it a thousand times over. Brave, bold and eager for an early death or an even earlier promotion, these boys would launch themselves at danger, hoping to prove just once the meaning of their existence to the world – or simply to anyone who might’ve cared. However, Johann was different.

In a different story, he could’ve been called Johann Schulz, mischievous protégé and promising heir to a large sum of money and a prosperous family – but alas, it had been decided that Johann would never inherit as much as a penny from his father, let alone the family name. Yet still, he was strong enough in the arms and quick more than enough in the head; just the ideal candidate for an ambitious officer in the Military Police, striving to further papa Schulz’s interests and maybe earn the love that had been unjustly denied of him.

Or not.

Because the only Schulz Johann ever cared about was his half-sister, Maria, and he never would’ve wanted her to get mixed up in the cruelty and backstabbing of political intrigue. But again, there wasn’t really much he could’ve done with his brain splattered on a giant tree trunk.

The only thing Levi could recall about him with absolute certainty was the lightness of the boy’s broken body as he carried the mutilated corpse back towards the cart. Rest in pieces, Johann Fuchs - and enter little sister Maria.

Levi sighed again. Cynicism wasn’t going to help him get anywhere.

It was the rustle of leaves that broke him out of his bitter stupor.

“Rushing to the bathroom already?” he asked with a grunt as he pressed even more of his weight on his left leg.

The girl in front of him didn’t seem impressed. Levi also noted how she was probably unaware of the tiny little twig caught in her hair.

“We need to disappear” she noted, turning instantly towards the cabin. “There are hunters in the forest.”

“Hunters?” Levi mused. “On our trail?”

Mikasa shrugged. “Could be. It was hard to tell.”

He nodded. “Let’s gather our things.”

Neither of them seemed to be in a hurry to ask _where_ they would be disappearing to.

 

* * *

 

“Are you really going to steal clothes from a bunch of farmers?”

Mikasa gritted her teeth. It was a pointless question and Levi must’ve known it as well. “What else do you propose?  Rolling in the grass to leave an even more obvious trace for the hounds to follow?”

He raised an eyebrow. “It can’t be that bad…”

“Actually,” Mikasa said, sniffing into the air.

“Clothes alone aren’t going to change the fact that we haven’t bathed in days,” Levi concluded with visible disgust, sneering at the oversized raggedy-ass shirt the girl had been eyeing for a minute or two.

“There is a stream not too far from here,” she argued, seemingly unmoved by his perfectly reasonable counter-argument. “Besides, beggars can’t be choosers. Didn’t you say that?”

He really wanted to come up with something to put the topic to rest once and for all, but none of the excuses coming to mind seemed to be worth his time. “Fine,” he said, “you make the run and I’ll be the lookout.”

Mikasa rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

 

* * *

 

There was a time long, long ago when she had considered bathing in streams and hiding in the forest part of the adventure.

Now, Mikasa found herself yearning for the warmth and comfort of a proper bath as she tried hard to scrub her skin and hair clean from the mud, soot and sand. Seeing all the dirt being washed away by the water, she was once again reminded of times long past when she had stubbornly believed that the future could only get brighter and all of their suffering would eventually make sense one day.

“We should’ve nabbed some soap too,” she heard coming from the other side of the moss-covered boulder that split the narrow rivulet of water into two rushing twin streams.

“Excuse me?” she huffed. “We?!”

“Right,” Levi grumbled from behind his cover. “ _You_ should’ve nabbed some soap too while you were at it.”

“Oh right,” Mikasa exclaimed with feigned surprise. “I must’ve forgotten the list.”

“It should’ve been obvious, really,” he stated unapologetically.

Her grip tightened around the old shirt she had been scrubbing herself with. It was the one she had gotten from Hades; dark, the colour of well-aged red wine, now full of tears and dirty with dried blood. “You know what?” she growled. “Fuck you.”

And with that, she hauled the rag right over.

It landed with a loud splash.

“What the hell?!”

It was just about the answer she had been expecting. “Should’ve been obvious, really,” she grumbled, pressing her chest flush against the flat of the rock and propping her hands on the edge to peek over. It was a sudden, impulsive thought.

He was there, kneeling in the shallow water, with his old shirt wrapped around his waist for decency. Suddenly, Mikasa felt her cheeks redden. She didn’t even consider for a moment that he might be… well, naked.

But he wasn’t, and she suddenly felt even more guilty for intruding upon his privacy like that.

“Satisfied?” he asked, glancing towards her as he peeled the cloth off of him with a grimace of disgust, spitting into the water to get the taste out of his mouth.

“Whatever” she murmured, turning away quickly. “Let’s get moving.”

She reached for the freshly washed linen she had brought along to dry herself off. She could feel the blood still warming her cheeks. Was she supposed to apologise? She had seen him shirtless before, but never naked. There had been a time when such meaningless things would never have bothered her; no matter how many times Connie came rushing into the room butt-naked, she would stare him down with the ferocity of a tiger and order him to get himself dressed. Or simply, she would just change her shirt right in front of Eren and Armin without thinking twice about it. Not Jean, though, because he would spin around his heel in a blink of an eye, redder than a raddish.

But this, this was different, because suddenly she was imagining Levi, no, _the Captain_ looking at her and the thought made her feel strangely dizzy.

For a moment, now with the white sheet wrapped around her securely, she considered glancing back behind her shoulders.

Would she find him there, looking at her just like she had been looking at him?

Her grip on the small clot in the fabric tightened.

She wasn’t ready to know.

Not yet.


End file.
